Dead In The Family Sancto Erico
by CC Monaco
Summary: Dead In The Family Redux Companion Piece as told by Eric Northman-More of Eric's history, his family and his very different perspective on recent events. I recommend DITF Redux first for a better understanding of what takes place in this story.
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_

Ordinarily, I am not someone who is sentimental enough to consider the past. I am not prone to reminiscing, or dwelling on that which I cannot change. So much time has passed, and there has been great suffering.

I have alternately been viewed as phantasm, specter and apparition. Much of my existence has been spent in the fevered nightmares of disbelieving travelers, wanderers and the otherwise dispossessed. I am predator, glorious death, sweet release.

Having said that, you must understand that I do not take death lightly; I revere him, challenge him. And while he waits for those who have not transcended time, I watch….

This memoir, this explanation of how things came to be as they are, is owed entirely to my darling wife, Sookie. She believes that I can unburden my soul by revealing my innermost trials and tribulations, and that somehow I will be cleansed. She believes me to have a soul, but I know that she is wrong. While I do not see the value in recounting the past, she has asked me to. I will always do what she asks of me. I owe her the universe. She is very brave, impetuous and I love her.

Our daughter is sleeping in a cradle beside me. I have built a very large fire to keep her warm as she sleeps. She is a perfect miracle, and I am in awe every time I gaze upon her impossibly tiny features and curled pink fists.

When we announced her pregnancy, many accused Sookie of having had an affair, but when Marissa was born, there was no doubt that I am her father. She has my nose, my mouth and my cheekbones. When she graces you with her silver-eyed stare, it is as if she is deep in thought. I stare at her often.

My first daughter, Relka was under-weight and sickly. I wasn't able to spend any time with her, as I was expected to lead our people through a treacherous famine in my village. It was a different time then. Fathers weren't expected to have a relationship with their children. I can't imagine not. So, I write this, for Sookie, for Marissa, and ultimately for my lost children; Timus, Relka and Segen.

Sookie came into the library and kissed me. She leaned over Marissa and pulled the blanket down. I admit, I have a difficult time gauging a temperature that is comfortable for either of them, considering I cannot tell how warm is too warm.

She smiled when she saw me writing and offered me her wrist. I kissed it tenderly and grazed her with my fangs. I have shared a bottle of _Royalty _with Marius, who is riding Avalon across the meadow with Fallon. Meshra and Natalia are cleaning the kitchen. Natalia is so happy to have a woman to talk to. Sookie has learned enough Russian in the last few months to communicate with her, but Meshra and she can gossip, and discuss the politics of the country.

Marissa startled and I placed my palm on her chest to calm her. She sighed deeply, and settled back into restful sleep. I am glad that she seems primarily human. She has shown a slight sensitivity to sunlight, and she does tend to be more alert at night than during the daytime, but she does not seem to need blood. Much like her mother, she is something new entirely.

I looked over at Sookie. Motherhood has made her even more stunning than she was before. She caught me staring and winked at me. She curled up in the window seat and began reading a book. I hated to think that she and I nearly lost out on this chance to be together. When I thought about the months that we were separated and how awful it was for me, it surprised me that we were able to make it through. There were things that I would never be able to discuss with her, things that may crush her if she knew them. I have kept those things to myself. I never wanted to think about those awful months again, but they led to the most wonderful time of my life; so if I must relive all of this, then it is back in that awful October that I shall begin.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

I called Sookie the night after Niall had been to see her about sealing the entrance to Fae. She was disappointed that he would no longer be visiting her, but I thought that it was probably for the best considering how much she had been through. If I'd known then that I wouldn't be seeing her again until May, I might have insisted that she come to Ravenwood to recover. She and I had exchanged blood many times at that point, and I worried that we would become too dependent upon each other. I didn't know what to make of things. I was thinking about her constantly, wondering if she was safe, remembering how she felt in my arms.

She accused me of tricking her into marriage, but I was doing what I had to in order to protect her. I've always had Sookie's best interests at heart. From the moment I met her, I was intrigued by her spirit; she is a fighter, like me. But I had to admit to myself that this mostly human girl had made me feel again. Not good.

Felipe de Castro called me just before Halloween and requested that I make a trip out to Las Vegas to send a message to the Sheriffs of areas sixteen and eighteen, that if the money didn't start flowing in a positive direction, there was going to be hell to pay. I realized when I hesitated that I was wondering how to tell Sookie that I would be leaving for a few weeks. De Castro is a smart man, he detected my reticence and asked if I was concerned for my human wife and I couldn't deny it. I knew then that a time apart would give me some perspective on this girl.

I flew out to Nevada, leaving Pam to run Fangtasia. She resented it, but she knew that she owed me that much and more. I have released Pam multiple times now, but she stays out of respect for me and because she has come to understand that I have excellent judgment. That, and I've made her quite a bit of money.

The west has never been to my liking. It is ungodly hot, dry to the point of discomfort, even for a vampire, and there is a sense of lawlessness. A lack of refinement permeates every interaction. Every transaction is somehow a hair's breadth from disaster.

Western vampires are relatively young, having moved to the American west as the railroads expanded. At the turn of the century, I was the oldest vampire in the southwest for nearly forty years, and when I returned to Louisiana, the next oldest vampire was a little over three hundred.

De Castro showed me off to his human business partner as if I were a wondrous animal that he had full control over. He marveled at my paler than pale skin. Ahhhed when he heard that I am over one thousand years old. Ooohed when he realized that in between inhalations, I could kill the man next to him. I considered it. It would not be bad to have De Castro remember that I am significantly older and wealthier than he, and that he owes me more respect than he does other vampires given my connection to our Reverent Mother, who is, unbeknownst to him, my surrogate mother.

I met with two of the laziest, most disrespectful sheriffs I'd ever encountered, and by week's end, de Castro reported that his earnings were up significantly. He invited me to join him for dinner at the Bellagio and I declined, hoping that I'd have a little time to call Sookie and check in with her. I hadn't talked to her in over a week and I wanted to make sure she was safe. Mostly, I wanted to hear her voice and a part of me wondered if I would ever have the nerve to admit that to her. De Castro insisted, and so I found myself dining on a young woman who was lifeless and less than thrilled to be offered up to a visiting vampire; I glamoured her to make her more tolerable. I promised myself that I would call Sookie before the night ended.

John Quinn, the were-tiger who fancied himself in love with my pledged wife, strode in with three of de Castro's shifter underlings. I pushed the girl aside and stood to leave. De Castro placed his hand on my arm and requested that I sit down. I didn't have any business with this tiger, and had previously banished him from my Area. Quinn glared at me, but I thought it best to ignore him entirely.

De Castro was listening to a complaint from the tiger that I had cost him business in the Louisiana sector and would I be willing to allow for contingencies. Of course, I refused. I saw through his ploy to use money as the supposed motivation for wanting to return to my Area, when I knew the real reason was Sookie. I restated my argument that Sookie had dismissed him, and considering our stated pledge, she wasn't about to change her mind. Victor Madden produced a certificate notarized by the Magistrate of Louisiana that our marriage had been recognized and that we were no longer pledged, but officially married in the eyes of all vampire law. I reminded Quinn that he himself had witnessed the blood ceremony between us when he'd come into the stairwell at the summit. He looked surprised, as I'd hoped he would. I leaned over and reminded him that she was mine and that he'd never, ever take her from me.

I stood to leave and heard him making noise about her being coerced. Victor Madden immediately corrected him and explained that Sookie came to me with the knife in hand, reverently and willingly and that she even smiled throughout the exchange. Victor was smart enough to leave out the fact that she didn't know what she was getting into. I liked him more and more every time I met with him. I excused myself but heard Quinn behind me promising to get revenge for ruining his chances with Sookie. I turned and reminded him that his whore mother had taken care of that. There was a scuffle of some kind behind me, but I was halfway to my room by then.

I dialed Sookie's number and waited. There was no answer. I hoped that she was safe, but I figured that she would see that I'd tried to call her and she would call me back. I showered and thought of our time together. I must have seemed so different to her. I remembered feeling vulnerable, frightened and alone. She was very loving and took me in when I was desperate.

I thought of Meshra and how she'd taken me in when my real maker, Appius, went to Germany to plead for vengeance when his maker was killed. I had a sudden pang of missing Sookie, but I knew that she would want to know why I'd sent Bill Compton to her aid when those bastard fairies took her from me; I couldn't tell her the reason, it would kill her. I hoped that she would forget about it, and that it would become less important as the days passed, but when we did talk, it was just under the surface, bubbling angrily. She was becoming moody around me. I tried to lighten things by changing the subject often, but as she grew more wistful, I became more determined than ever to keep it a secret. It was time for bed and she had not called. I said a silent prayer that my lover was safe, and slept soundly.

Initially, I thought that I would be in Nevada for a week or two, but as the days dragged on, I came to realize that de Castro meant for me to shore up his western holdings before allowing me to return to Louisiana. I was desperate to see Sookie at this point. She and I had spoken on the phone once, and I didn't have the opportunity to tell her that I wasn't in town.

I called again. She said that she was sleeping, and that if I wanted to talk, I could have called earlier. I wasn't sure what had upset her so, but the edge in her voice led me to believe that she was sleeping poorly. I asked her what I could do to help and she insisted that there was nothing that I could do. I tried to calm her down, but the emotional and physical distance between us was too great. I packed my things and told the king that I needed to leave immediately. I didn't give him room to move on this point and I made arrangements with Anubis to travel home.

The night I arrived, I was inundated with bar issues. The new bartender, Kellan, had been caught drinking on the job and Pam had reprimanded him. There had been a sewage backup in the basement and Pam had had to fire the human plumber that serviced the building. We'd also had a visit from the fire marshal, who determined that our storage room was too crowded and needed to have a third of the stock removed. I told Pam that I would get to all of her issues as soon as I had a moment to call Sookie, and as I picked up the phone to call her, Pam announced that she was at the door. I can only describe the feeling as a swelling in my chest, because I no longer have a heart that beats faster.

She glided into my office, on what I describe as her pink cloud. She smells of cakes, ice cream and sunshine. This is partly her fairy blood, but it has become more pronounced the more of my blood she has ingested. I love what my blood has done to her. I crossed the room and swept her into my arms. I kissed her deeply, hoping to convey to her that I had missed her horribly. She was stiff and seemed to want to tell me something terrible.

I released her and sat in the chair behind my desk. I heard what she said but I had stopped listening. She wanted a separation from me. Time apart. I was crushed. She said that she wasn't sure what her role was in my life. I wanted to interject that she was my everything. The time that I'd been away had been time spent thinking of her and that I was ready to tell her that. I was ready to tell her everything that night. I had bought her a ring in Las Vegas and planned to give it to her, but she was breaking my heart.

I sat silently. I was unable to move. I asked if she wanted to see other people. I feared the answer was yes. I offered to release her from our bond hoping that that would be good enough to appease her, and while she didn't respond to my offer, I took her sigh as desperation to be away from me. I hadn't wept in a very long time, but I had to be away from her or something bad would happen. She stood on tip-toe to kiss me and I pulled away. I rushed to the door and held it open for her. I could no more allow her to kiss me off than I could have given her my blessing then.

She insisted that she be allowed to kiss me. She said that she owed me that much and I let her press her lips to mine. I could not kiss her back, I was crushed. She asked if I would consider coming to see her, but how could I? I told her that I would consider it, and when she walked out, I slammed the door.

I paced between my desk and the door, conflicted about going after her and telling her that I loved her and telling her to go to hell, who did she think that she was dismissing me? I threw my desk phone at the wall and Pam knocked lightly. The last person I wanted to see my misery was Pam. She had been the source of so much pain for me already. I told her to go away, but she came in anyway. I yelled at her to leave, that she was only there to witness my rejection, yet again. She left, and I smashed everything in my office. I left the bar through the back door and got into my Corvette. I drove for hours. I was devastated because I'd let down my guard and fallen in love with a human girl and she had crushed me.

I found myself in front of the Assisted Dying facility outside of Marquette, Louisiana. Very few humans know about Assisted Dying. Occasionally, an article would appear in a magazine, and the merits of assisted dying would be debated in the news for a week or two, but then it would go away. We vampires don't talk about it at all, and the human clients don't live to tell about it.

I walked in and handed the secretary my membership card. She nodded and led me to a waiting room where I would be met by a human who was either terminally ill and in great pain, or someone who found life unbearable and wanted a painless end. We would interview each other in some instances. In others, a human would show up on the doorstep and request to meet his or her end. The distraught person was kept for a three-day assessment period. If at the end of the three days, he or she still wanted to die, arrangements were made.

I sat in the windowless office awaiting my victim. I was hoping for someone who did not want to chat. I just wanted to drain someone. I felt myself on the verge of mania. I hadn't known my feelings for Sookie were this intense. There was a knock at the door, and Allison Humphrey entered. I recognized her from our previous meetings at the center. She sat in the chair opposite me.

I must have looked horrifying because she took my hands and made me promise that I would not harm her. I swore to her that I was there to be the guardian of death in a positive way, an affirmation that we had to swear to before we were allowed to feed. Allison told me that she did not have anyone for me that night, and that I looked as if I needed someone to talk to. When she said that, I felt all the rejection, anger and hurt rising through my chest and for the first time in a century, I wept. Allison held me as I told her how I'd lost my wife. She was sworn to secrecy about the facility and its clients, so I trusted her to keep my breakdown a secret. She stroked my back as I wept for my Angel, Sookie, who had turned her back on me.

I thanked Allison for sitting with me. She gave me her number and made me promise that I would call her if I was feeling destructive again. I gave her my number and asked her to call me if they got a client in. She kissed my cheek and told me that she was sorry that I'd lost my wife, but that somehow things would work out. I hoped that she was right. I got back in my car and drove to Ravenwood.

Oliver met me at the door and took the car. I didn't want to talk to anyone. He must have sensed that I was not in the mood to be cordial because he nodded, but didn't say a word. I went inside, retrieved the ring that I'd bought Sookie in Las Vegas, and threw it into the lake. I made my way back up to the house, went up to my sitting room and got out my cello. I played furiously for nearly two hours. My fingers were bleeding when I finished, and I threw my bow across the room. I went into my bedroom and climbed into my sleeping space. I wrapped Sookie's scarf around my fist and slept fitfully.

The weeks passed agonizingly slow. Some nights, I was so tormented by my desire to be near her that I went to Bon Temps and watched Sookie load her car to spend the evening at Jason's house. She seemed to be staying there regularly. Though she didn't want me to contact her, I had to ensure that she was safe. Our blood bond was weakening with each passing day, and I feared that she might actually choose to work for de Castro to escape me.

I was awful to be around and poor Pam took the brunt of most of my black moods. I sat in the farthest booth at Fangtasia, not allowing any of the patrons to come near me. I refused to sign autographs, have photos taken, and when _VQ_ came to interview me, I was so wretched that they chose to scrap the piece. I didn't care.

I drove out to the Assisted Dying Center every evening and waited for new clients to come. I drained the willing with particular relish, imagining that it was Quinn some nights, Bill Compton others. Sookie viewed him as her hero for storming in and saving her from Lochlan and Neave. I was the one who was gasping and writhing in pain, as I suffered along with her. But there was no way that I could reveal that to her without also telling her that she had been the reason the fairies had found little Hunter. The child was next to death, and had I been five minutes more, he would not have survived. She would be devastated, and I couldn't allow that. So it meant that I had to bear an awful, and seemingly permanent separation.

Most nights, Allison offered me a bottle of _TrueBlood_ while I waited at the center. We talked every night for weeks; sometimes on the phone, sometimes in her office. She said that she was concerned for me, that I was becoming angrier and more despondent. I assured her that I would get over it, and that I was a vampire and that I shouldn't have been consorting with humans anyway.

Christmas approached, and Allison suggested that I find someone to spend the holiday with so that I would not spend the night alone. I'd confessed to her that my plans were to wait outside the center and take whoever showed up instead of adhering to the three day waiting policy. She suggested that I should do something for myself instead. I could tell that she was hinting at inviting me to join her and her family, but what I wanted was my own family. I wanted to begin my life with my wife. When she invited me to Texas to spend Christmas evening with the Humphreys, I turned her down, but I promised her that I would not breach the center's agreement with its patrons. She seemed disappointed, but I thanked her for the invitation.

The following evening, I flew home to Sweden for the Christmas holiday. I kept an apartment near where my village had been and I spent the night roaming the streets, wondering who of these mortals were descendent of my sons. I checked the birth and death records at the Maria Magdalena church every time I was home. The church was collecting genealogical data and each year, some family would add the records that they'd amassed.

Since the church was nearly as old as I, I hoped that someday I would find a family whose ancestry could be traced back to a few generations removed from Segen or Timus. Relka was never able to have a child it seemed and I'd heard that she'd died when she was but twenty years old. I knew that it was nearly impossible, but I longed to believe in something, and it was all I had.

And even though Sookie and I weren't speaking, I bought her a Christmas present. I was sure she wouldn't accept it from me this year, but I would give it to her because I hoped in my deepest wishes that someday we would be on speaking terms again, and I would try to win her back. So on Christmas Eve, while all the children of Sweden were snug in their beds awaiting the Jultomten to bring them gifts, I sat under the stars praying that by this time next year, I would have Sookie to celebrate with. I wore the gold locket close to my motionless heart, and thought of her. I flew home the next night.

I returned to the Assisted Dying Center almost as soon as my flight touched down in Shreveport. Allison was happy to see me, and I was surprised to find that I was happy to see my friend as well. We sat in her office and talked about my trip to Sweden. She said that she would have liked to have gone with me. I brushed this comment aside, but she didn't seem to notice or mind. She told me about her family's Christmas dinner and how her younger brother's dog had caught its tail on fire and had set fire to several of the Christmas presents. We laughed and talked until late into the evening. She realized that she'd missed her train talking to me. I told her that I would drive her home since it had been my fault. I stood in the lobby and waited as she locked her office and closed the center.

It was icy out, and she slipped her hand into mine as we walked down the stairs. I flinched at first, but then held her hand. She lost her footing on the last step, and I caught her in my arms. There was an awkward silence as she looked up at me, but then she smiled and thanked me for catching her. I'd had the strange urge to kiss her and I pressed her to me. She didn't say a word. She returned my kiss, tentatively at first, then more ardently. She pulled away and I apologized. I opened the car door for her and she climbed in. I slid in beside her and started the engine wishing all the while that it was Sookie beside me.

Allison lived close to Shreveport, so it would be a relatively long drive. I broke the silence by asking if she'd consider going out for a drink sometime. She laughed at that and said that she'd thought that we were already dating considering how much time we spent on the phone. She asked if I was ready to make it official. When I didn't respond to her suggestion, she grew quiet but agreed to join me for a drink.

On the way, she told me how she began the Assisted Dying Center and that she'd met her first vampire three years before we were officially out. The vampire, Phinnaeus, no last name, she said, was not someone I was familiar with. She'd met him on a ski trip at Lake Tahoe and he'd offered to turn her. She refused, but suggested that her background in counseling and public service could be of more assistance helping us find donors. And while it wasn't legal, maybe she could offer comfort to humans who were ready to die.

She said that she also volunteered at St. Boniface in Shreveport, which was closer to her home. I told her that she was performing a great service for vampires and humans alike. She thanked me and I saw her smiling in the darkness. She was a pretty girl, with chestnut hair, and deep green eyes. Her gentleness reminded me of Sookie.

She and Phinnaeus began as lovers, but she'd fallen in love with him. He left her to return to Ireland with someone he liked better. I could sense that she was in love with him still, but I sat quietly. She changed the subject, and asked me about running Fangtasia. I told her about the desperate types that show up at my bar, and how my bar was performing a similar function to her center. She asked to see it and I promised that I would take her there.

A few nights later, I picked her up at her house and drove her to Fangtasia. Pam raised an eyebrow at me and I glared for her to mind her own business. Allison was in a very low cut blouse and skirt that fit snugly around her breasts and hips. It was tasteful, but she wasn't leaving much to the imagination. I got her a glass of chardonnay and we talked at my table.

Several of the vampire patrons recognized her and she was regarded with a fair measure of respect. I smiled when a young vampire named Henry tried to talk to her and she dismissed him as having mistaken her for someone else. One of the rules of the center was complete anonymity. Those who attended just gave each other a courtesy nod, but that was it. I knew that his membership card would be revoked by Monday morning.

She was curious about everyone at the bar. She chatted with Pam, who was impressed by her knowledge of, and respect for vampire customs. Thalia scowled as she always does, but I knew that she liked Sookie and disapproved of me dating someone else. We talked until just after eleven, and I offered to drive her home. She bowed deeply to Pam as we walked out to my car. Pam gave me a look that said I was on dangerous ground, but I knew that. Pam didn't think anyone was good enough for me, but I was lonely again.

Allison's home was nearby. I pulled up to the house that she pointed out and stopped the car. We sat in the dark for a few minutes. I didn't want her to get out. I didn't want to be alone. She bit her lip and I felt myself growing aroused. She said goodnight, reached to undo her seatbelt, then leaned across her seat and kissed me. I sat surprised for a moment, as I hadn't expected her to be so bold. I sensed that she found me attractive, but I was hesitant, and she pulled back, embarrassed. She moved to get out to the car but I grabbed her shoulder. I tilted her chin up, leaned in and I kissed her back. Then, I pulled her close to me. I needed someone, anyone to want me.

We kissed for a few minutes and I thought of nothing but her mouth on mine. She put her hand on my crotch and I moaned. She slid her hand up my chest to my cheek and looked into my eyes. She asked me to come inside and make love to her; that we were both desperately lonely and could use each other for comfort. I took her mouth again, and felt my fangs click into place. She said my name and put my hand between her legs. She wasn't wearing panties.

She began moaning and hiked her skirt up so that she could climb over the stick shift and sit on my lap. She straddled me in the seat and tried to unzip my jeans. I felt her moving her hips against my hardness through my zipper. She was begging me to take her and I was sorely tempted. I kissed her passionately, tearing at her blouse. I kissed her breasts and her neck, dying to be with her. She moved her hips, sliding against me. I was so close to taking her. She undid my jeans and I felt her teeth on my neck. When she tried to bite me, I shoved her away. I thought of Sookie, and her promise to me that she wouldn't sleep with anyone until we'd talked. I stopped kissing Allison and lifted her off my lap. I couldn't go through with it. She asked why I wouldn't take her, why I wouldn't give her what she needed. I just shook my head. I opened the door and lifted her out into the snow. She was surprised, and I couldn't blame her, but I explained to her that I loved my wife and that I was making a mistake. I just couldn't do that to her. I told her about the agreement that I had with Sookie, and that even though I had been the one initiating things with Allison, I would have to stop. She was embarrassed again but said that she understood, and that Sookie was a very stupid, but lucky woman. She gathered her coat around her and I offered to walk her to her door.

I walked with her up the stairs and apologized for leading her on. She didn't say anything she just slipped her key into the lock and stepped into her foyer. As I turned to go, she asked if I would reconsider. I stood for a long moment wondering what I should do. I looked down at the snow and back at her doorway. She had opened her blouse and exposed her breasts in the moonlight. She was unzipping her skirt as I looked at her. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. She stood naked before me, grabbed the front of my jeans and pulled me against her.

"Eric, I know you want me. You're so hard. She never has to know. Please?"

"Allison, you are a beautiful girl, who wouldn't want you? But I can't. _I _ would know and I couldn't live with it. I really, truly can't." I leaned over and picked up her coat. I handed it to her and thanked her for offering herself to me.

"Before you go, I want you to know something." She wrapped her coat around herself. "I'm in love with you, and I want you. I don't care how long I have to wait, Eric, I want you so badly. And if she can't see how amazing you are, then I'm really sorry for her." She bowed her head and stared at the floor. I hadn't realized that she was falling in love all these weeks, and it seemed to be my fault that I was unwittingly fostering her feelings for me. I felt like an ass. She'd thought that I was falling for her too.

"I'm so sorry, Allison. I wasn't trying to hurt you. You've been such a good friend and I really appreciate it." I thanked her for listening to me when I was desperate. I told her that I wouldn't see her anymore, and that I would send my last membership dues via messenger. She wouldn't look at me, and I walked back to my car and pulled out into traffic, glad that I hadn't cheated on Sookie, but ashamed that it had gotten as far as it had.

I thought about calling her, but she had asked me to stay away. I called Pam instead and apologized to her for being so difficult to be around. She asked me if I was apologizing because I'd cheated on Sookie, but I assured her that I hadn't let it get that far. Pam thought I was a fool for keeping my deal with Sookie. She could be so pragmatic that I didn't always want to hear what she had to say. I threw my phone down and drove out to Bon Temps. I pulled my car into Sookie's driveway, but didn't park near the house.

I flew up to the door and landed in the shadows of her back porch. I considered what to do next. I thought about knocking and demanding to see her, hoping that she loved me, even a little. I had never been so unsure of anything in my life.

I heard a vehicle approaching. I stepped into the trees and saw her climbing out of a young man's truck. She'd given him a kiss and started to run inside. She stopped and looked right at where I was standing. I thought for sure that she'd seen me there, but she just stared, then turned and went inside. I flew up to her window and waited in the darkness watching her move through the gauzy curtains.

She set her alarm, brushed her hair and climbed into her bed. I waited until I could hear her breathing slow to a regular pattern and I knew that she was asleep.

I entered her house through the front door, glad that she had not rescinded my invitation into her home. I glided up the stairs without touching them, because steps three, five, six and nine creak.

It was warm in her house, and I missed being here with her. Her room smelled of the sweet smells that I have come to associate with her. I breathed deeply, and longed for her even more. I took off my shoes, and she stirred briefly. I waited until she settled into regular sleep again then slid into the bed beside her. I watched her sleeping for a long time, as she tossed and turned, fighting invisible hands.

I shushed her quietly, and smoothed the hair from her forehead half hoping that she would wake up. We stayed that way until five am, when I had to leave for Shreveport. I floated above her and kissed her gently on the lips. She began to wake a little, but I left before she saw me.

I threw myself into my work with the League of Beneficent Blood Drinkers, and hosted two charity events at Ravenwood. The winter passed slowly, and every evening I waited for a call from Sookie. I hadn't spoken to her in months, and I didn't think that she would ever call me again.

In early April, Pam told me that she'd seen Sookie out with a young man. I wondered if it was the same one who had dropped her off the night I'd stayed at her house. Pam suggested that it would be best if I let Sookie go. She really had moved on with her life and it was probably best if I did the same. I knew that Pam was upset that I was pining for a human, but in her own self-interest, she was angry that I was taking it out on her. I was completely conflicted about whether I should let Sookie go or make one last effort to win her back. I'd hoped that enough time had passed that she would be missing me. But I feared that the separation had made up her mind for her.

In late March, I received a voicemail message from de Castro stating that the tiger, Quinn, had requested to see Sookie again, and that he could provide evidence that Sookie and I were no longer together. De Castro said that he could see no reason to deny Quinn's request, unless I could prove otherwise. I told him that she was indeed still my wife, and that Quinn was wrong, but that I would leave that decision to Sookie. The conditions spelled out by the magistrate required that Sookie return to me of her own accord and that there be a public declaration that we were wed. Otherwise, I would be fined for misleading the court and possibly stripped of my Area for denying de Castro fair commerce by keeping Sookie from his employ. As for De Castro, he requested a formal declaration of truce; I would allow Quinn to do business in certain sectors of Louisiana, but also that if she chose to see him, I would not interfere. I was stunned that these so-called policy makers were as dense as they were.

I drafted two letters that night. Sookie's copy differing slightly from de Castro's in that I insisted that Sookie still be required to see me. I would never hand my wife over to Quinn. I was angry, but I was running out of leverage on all fronts. I had to take a strategic step back to assess my position.

I sat on my throne at Fangtasia, sullen and dispirited. I needed to get away from Louisiana. I needed to get away from everything that reminded me that the woman that I loved would never be mine. I kept thinking about what I'd said in the letter. I told Sookie that I thought it was best if she tried to see other people; that maybe Quinn would have her back since he had been asking repeatedly to see her. If the magistrate needed to witness Quinn's rejection, the only way to arrange that was to allow Quinn to try. I was angry and frustrated that I had to go to such lengths to prove my relationship with Sookie. But she'd been so stubborn, uncooperative and indecisive that I was in legal trouble and my Area was at stake.

Thalia approached me, her ever-present scowl creating deep furrows in her delicate features. I motioned for her to sit and she refused. When I raised my eyebrow, she placed her hand on her hip and stood firm. Thalia was one of two vampires that I tolerated insolence from, and I only tolerated it from her because she amused me so. She called me petulant and said that she would no longer serve me if I couldn't keep my personal life out of the bar. I roared with laughter and advised her to keep a civil tongue. I stood up, and her eyes went wide. I promised her that I would make things right between my wife and myself and that she could return to warming blood, and wiping spills safe in the knowledge that the great Eric Northman was a good employer.

I got in my car and drove out to Sookie's house. I stood outside her window and saw her sitting on the floor in her kitchen. I thought it was very unusual for her to be sitting there, still and unmoving so I watched and waited. When she stood, I saw my letter fall to the floor. She headed up to her room and I heard her crying. As she sobbed in her pajamas, I regretted sending her the letter rather than delivering it so that I could soften the blow. As usual, she'd misunderstood my intent, and while I couldn't expressly state what my intentions were (she would react to being manipulated and would ruin things, yet again), I had hoped that she would read between the lines and understand that I was trying my best to protect her from de Castro. It was all so ridiculous. The King would not demand her services as long as I could prove that we were a couple. And that Quinn had no claim to her. I hated that Sookie was being used as a political pawn, but I couldn't think of another way to protect the both of us from the small minded greediness of the Nevada vampires and our Magisters.

I regretted that I had underestimated Sookie, and assumed that she wouldn't care that I was letting her go. I hadn't spared her feelings in any way. I felt the dull ache in my chest when I thought of her and what she was feeling reading my words. I couldn't let de Castro or Quinn take her from me, I loved her too much for that. I thought she heard or saw me outside her window, and I darted into the tree line. When I was certain that she'd gone to bed for the evening, I drove back to Shreveport.

A few days later, Thalia reported that Sookie was seeing Quinn the were-tiger, but that she looked and seemed bored. Thalia was disappointed that I'd messed things up and gave me her two-week notice written on a Fangtasia napkin. I smiled and handed it to Pam. Pam wadded it up and told Thalia to get back to work. She glared at me and began drying glasses.

Sookie had written her own letter to me, saying that she would attend any functions that I required of her, and that I only had to give her enough notice so that she could request time off at work. I re-read it, looking for any sign that she'd understood our precarious position, but there was none.

There was a Blood Drinkers event coming up in two weeks, so I drafted a summons and requested that she attend with me. Bobby placed the letter in her mailbox, and I waited for her to call. After a week of not hearing from her, I became despondent again. Pam suggested that Quinn may have had something to do with her not responding, so I sent a new summons, then contacted E(E)E event planners and booked Quinn for a party. I sealed the yellow envelope and left it for Bobby.

I went to sleep hoping that she would call. As the hours passed at Fangtasia, I gave up hope that she would respond and I decided then that I would pursue a relationship with Allison if Sookie was truly finished with me. We began closing the bar, and shortly after four, my cell phone rang. I saw her name and froze. I didn't know if I should answer it, or let it go to voicemail. Part of me was afraid of what she had to say.

I tried not to sound emotional as I answered.

"Yes?" I was overly sharp with her, but I was angry and hurt. If I was honest with myself, I was also afraid.

"He-Hello? Um, Eric? It's me." I was surprised by how strained she sounded. I felt a lump in the pit of what used to be my stomach.

"Hello, Sookie. I must say that I am surprised that you are calling me." I excused myself from the table and went into my office where it was quieter.

"I got your letter."

I waited for her to tell me to go to hell, or to get stuffed, but she didn't add anything. I had to know if she had ignored my first letter, or if Quinn really did keep it from her.

"My second letter, you mean." I waited for her response because I knew that if she had gotten the first, she was going to ask me to stop contacting her altogether.

"I just wanted to say that I'll be there."

I exhaled the breath that I hadn't realized I'd been unnecessarily holding. I hoped she hadn't heard me. She hadn't seemed to. In fact, she seemed to be shaking. I thought about telling her to relax, that it was just me but there was too much between us.

"I expected that you would be. You made a promise." She'd promised that she wouldn't refuse when I requested her presence and she was honoring that. I was very glad that I hadn't had sex with Allison. If Sookie had kept her promise about this, then she'd probably kept her promise to me that she wouldn't sleep with Quinn and my case with the Magisters would be that much stronger.

"Uh, it's-it's been a long time since I saw you last and I just- I just wanted to let you know that I'm really looking forward to seeing you tonight."

"Oh." I couldn't keep the relief from my voice, so I had to limit what I said to her. If she knew that I was relieved, she would know how much power she had over me. That was never a good position to be in.

"Eric, listen, I just want to--" I interrupted her because I could hear in her voice that she was on the verge of tears. If I heard my Angel crying, I would tell her that it was all going to be okay. I would tell her that I loved her and that I longed to be with her.

"If this is not important, I have a business to run." I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on modulating my voice so that she could not tell that I was upset. I cleared my throat and found myself offering to pick her up instead of sending Oliver Hastings. It was a step in the right direction at least. We debated the time, and it seemed that she was eager to see me. I didn't want to get my hopes up. I told her I would be there around eight-thirty and I expected that she would hang up the phone. When she didn't, I sat and listened to her breathing on the other end. She sat silently and I thought that maybe she wasn't ready to hang up either. She whispered that she missed me and I couldn't speak. I hung up the phone and stared at it. I had a date with my wife. I drove home, smiling. I climbed down into my sleeping space, wrapped her scarf around my hand and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

I knew in my bones that the night would be awful. Something felt off. I scanned the crowd and determined that there were more humans than vampires. I would have to do something about the marketing. Yes, I wanted the bar to be financially successful, and the humans tended to spend more, but we were being over run by them. Pam signaled to me that there were under aged girls to the left of the DJ booth. I went over to the one who appeared oldest, and directed them to the front door. I would not have my bar shut down by police because a gaggle of fifteen year olds had seen my pictures in _VQ_ magazine.

When I placed my hand on the shoulder of the youngest, she actually threw up on me. I was disgusted and raised my hand to strike her. I remembered in time that we could no longer treat humans that way, and I signaled for Kellan to take over their ejection from my bar while I cleaned the foul stench of half-digested cheese fries from my three thousand dollar Anthony Price suit.

I showered quickly and remembered that the suit I kept in my office had a cigarette burn in the sleeve. It would be a jeans and t-shirt night for me. I slipped a Fangtasia t-shirt over my head and pulled on jeans and sneakers. My cell phone rang and I hoped that it was Sookie, but it wasn't. I smiled that I was disappointed.

"What is it?"

"Your precious Sookie. She's your woman right? Do you know where she is?"

I reached out to Sookie through our blood bond, but I couldn't sense her. I'd lost track of her once before when the fairies had her, but it was temporary. It felt like the path was blocked. I had that feeling now. I felt panic rise in my throat. I'd been distracted and forgotten that my Angel was in danger.

"Who is this? Do you have her? I'll give you whatever you want, just don't hurt her."

"You poor vampire piece of shit. You're in love with a half assed human-fairy mutt. What a fucking embarrassment you must be to your colleagues and friends. You should stay with your own kind. Trash like her should have been aborted."

"Who is this, and what the fuck have you done with my wife?"

"Come and get her….what's left anyway. She's at her place in Bon Temps."

I slammed the phone closed and ran outside. It was raining and would make it slower for me to fly. I got into my car and pressed 1 on my speed dial.

"Pick up, Sookie. Pick up the goddamned phone." I hoped this was a prank call, we got them at the bar all the time, but this one was personal. This one was a supe who knew things about us. I drove faster than I have ever driven a car, and yet I saw headlights approaching me from behind. I sped up, but so did the person behind me. I tried to swerve left as the car accelerated, but the car slammed into my driver's side. The side curtain airbag deployed and shoved me to the right. I lost control of the car and flipped into a ravine. The left side of my body was numb. I felt my head buzzing and I shook myself to clear my thoughts. I hadn't realized that I was airborne until the car landed with a sharp crunch of fiberglass and metal. The windshield exploded and I could see the headlights illuminating the raindrops between the Corvette and the bushes.

I shook my head again, my leg was pinned in place and I couldn't get out of the car. I thought I would pass out. I heard a voice nearby and realized that someone was pulling the door open. I fell out of the car and suddenly my skin was on fire. Two sets of hands grabbed at my legs. I rolled over onto my back and looked through a mesh of silver netting. I was trapped. My arms were bound and I was tied to the ground.

"You should see how pathetic you look vampire."

"Who are you?"

"We work for someone who wants you dead for real, zombie freak." I felt a sharp pain in my side as one of the two men kicked me.

"I'm going to kill you both, really slowly and I'll make your families watch."

"D'you hear that, we're being threatened by this dead motherfucker. As if there's anything you can do about your present situation."

"I'm a very powerful vampire, I have a lot of money. If you let me go, let me find my wife before she is harmed, I will give you both more than you are making doing this to me." Everyone had a price I just had to find the one that interested these two morons.

"Hoo whee, he's a powerful vamp with a lot of money. What's this about a wife? Tell me where she is we'll go show her what it means to be with real men. Show her a sweet time. Make her forget all about your cold, dead ass."

"You know, Virgil, I've always wondered, since they're so cold, is their jizz cold too. What do those fangbangers see in these corpsicle fucks, anyway?"

"Hell if I know. Look at him, sizzling like fatback. You sizzlin' boy? That feel good? Careful Dalt, don't look him in the eyes, he's gon' try that hoodoo shit they do to get you to kill yourself. " I heard a long blade snap into place and felt dread seeping in. They meant to drain me. These good old boys weren't just locals looking to get some V.

"Look, you don't have to drain me, I will give you my blood and it will bring you thousands of dollars. As I said, I'm a very powerful vampire----"

"Oh, we know who you are. You're the famous one thousand year old vampire, Eric Northman. We will help ourselves to some blood if you don't mind, but that's not why we're here tonight. Just hold still." He cut deeply into my arms and I winced from the pain. "I thought you all couldn't feel shit. Hmm, show's what the fuck I know."

I had to think of a way to get out of this. I thought of Sookie and I remembered what it had felt like when Lochlan and Neave were torturing her. I pushed her from my thoughts; they didn't seem to know about her. I thought about my mother, sister and brother who would hear through channels that I'd been drained. I didn't want to die this way, by the side of the road like a deer. I tried to lift my head, but was pinned in place by the silver net. I would have a better chance if I could see my surroundings.

"Hey fellas, look, I need a favor. Would one of you remove the net from my face, so that I may look up into the stars and make peace with my maker?" These rednecks always clung to religion, and I hoped that these two were no different.

"Dalton, whatchoo think? Long as I keep that net over his chest and arms, he should be pretty secure right?"

"There probly ain't no harm in letting him stare into the face of his maker, God the creator of the universe." He pulled the net from my face and I breathed deeply. I never needed to breathe, but it was a technique that we vampires used to convince humans that we were like them. We had to become vulnerable to appeal to the basic human nature which is not murderous at all. Very few humans are actually capable of murdering a stranger. I also wanted to glamour them if I could look them in the eyes.

"I thought they was created by Satan himself."

"See, that's just a bunch o' that ole heathen talk, they started out people just like you and me. But they broke God's law and this is his punishment."

I really wasn't in the mood to listen to sermonizing.

"Oh Jesus, fucking kill me already. I'm not listening to this shit."

"Heathen to the very end. You believe that? Don't worry vampire, you'll be dead soon enough."

I lay there for what felt like hours with my captors, Virgil and Dalton taking turns slicing into my arms and legs. I passed out twice, and I heard myself calling out to Sookie. I tried so hard not to say her name. I didn't want them to know about her. I had to protect her. I reached out to Pam, to let her know I was in danger. She wouldn't know where to look, but she'd know that I was in need of help. I thought about Pam and I regretted that I hadn't been better to her. She'd been extremely loyal to me. I thought about Sookie and how I should have told her that I loved her. I promised myself that if I managed to survive this somehow, that I would spoil her to the point of the ridiculous. I would also never let her out of my sight again. I felt tears spring to my eyes. I didn't have to fake being upset for these jackasses, but I laid it on thick so that they would empathize with me. Humans were so easy to manipulate.

"Guys?" I moaned and cried out hoping that they would take pity on my poor defenseless condition. I disguised a laugh as a sob and they stood over me. The sun would be rising soon; I didn't have much time. I kept my eyes closed so they would get closer. I lowered my voice to a near whisper. "I'm near the end, please, pray with me.

I'm sorry for what I said, God, I'm so sorry." They both leaned over me to check if I was really going. I snapped my eyes open and glamoured them both. "You boys have been very bad; very, very bad. Remove this silver from me now." They stood and slid the silver net from my chest. "Good, good, now untie my arms and legs." I felt Dalton untie my legs, but Virgil did not stir. I was fading, and he was the stronger of the two.

"Dumbass, he's doing that thing. Get the shotgun, let's end this shit now."

"No, Dalton, you need to untie me."

"Dalton, snap out of that shit. Don't listen to him."

Dalton walked to the truck and I feared that I was too far gone to glamour him further. I pushed him as hard as I could. I didn't need verbal commands to glamour unintelligent humans, so I pushed him to get the gun. He had it in his hands as Virgil had wanted. I pushed Dalton to use the weapon on Virgil. He raised it in the air and shot Virgil's head open like a pumpkin. I felt the pink mist of bones and blood splatter my face and chest. I wouldn't be able to get Dalton to shoot himself with the shotgun; it was too long. I directed him to untie me again, but I was so weak that his own desires began to creep back in. I have never been so glad to live in the swamplands of Louisiana as I was that night.

Four alligators, attracted by the smell of blood and disaster slithered up out of the water on the other side of the road. I laughed that they would be devoured by alligators; I was cold and dead and therefore of no concern to the reptiles. I heard Dalton screaming and the gut turning sound of bone and flesh being crunched in the alligators mouths. I laughed and laughed while Dalton screamed and bled beside me. I may not survive this night, but neither would they.

I passed out again, and felt myself growing weaker by the moment. They'd taken turns cutting me open and letting my precious blood flow. I stopped being angry and thought of Sookie. I kept her face in my mind as I closed my eyes and let go. She deserved better than this. She deserved more than this. I cried out.

"I'm so sorry. Sookie, I'm so sorry. I let you down, please forgive me. I love you. I will always, always love you." I thought of my mother, and how she would weep for me. I thought of my dear sister, Fallon. And my poor brother Marius, whose only sin had been loving my Pam. I could feel it getting later and knew that it was pretty close to three am. The sun would begin to rise around six thirty or so, and I would be dead. I thought about the one thousand years that I'd been alive, what would it be like to not be here? Did I have some ultimate price to pay for the sins I'd committed? Was there a vengeful, angry God waiting to collect me? I thought of my children, my first wife, my mother and father. I thought of my pear trees and my dog. I would see them all. But then, I thought of Sookie and none of that seemed to matter. I wanted to hold on for her. I didn't want this to be the end. I thought of her smile when I took off my trench coat in her bedroom the night we'd gone to an orgy. I thought of her laughing when I danced in her living room while she and I entertained ourselves hiding from Hallow. No, I didn't want it to end.

I said a prayer out loud that I would be saved, and within moments, I heard tires approaching. If I could reach out to the person in the car, I might have a chance. I pushed, and pushed, then heard a voice. I sighed with relief and begged for help for the first time in my life.

I felt myself being carried. I moaned. The pain of being moved was nearly unbearable. I couldn't tell what time it was; I didn't know where I was, I couldn't open my eyes. "Sookie, help Sookie."

"Eric, honey, it's me, it's Pam. I've got you, you're in my car. I'm going to get you home. You rest, we'll get you blood. God, who did this to you?"

She was stricken. I could hear it in her voice. I haven't heard Pam cry since Marius left her, but I could tell that she was crying now. If Pam was here, that meant that I was going to live. I called out for Sookie.

"Eric, it's nearly dawn. We've got to get you home. Kellan and I will take care of you, but you have to settle down. I promise as soon as I am able I will retrieve her myself. You need to stay calm."

"Sookie, My Angel. She's in danger. Someone is after her. Please call her Pam. Help Soo----"

I must have passed out because I don't remember the car ride to Ravenwood. It was dark then and I felt myself being lowered into a coffin. I could hear Pam crying still and I reached out for her.

"Pam, my child, thank you for being so loyal. Thank you for taking care of me. I should have taken better care of you. I'm so sorry. I love you."

"You are so weak, just rest for now. I've sent for Dr. Armatrading, he's the specialist from St. Albans. You just be here when I wake up. I mean it, Eric." She leaned over me in the coffin and kissed me on my cheeks. "I love you, too."

"Please get Bobby to help Sookie, she's in danger."

"Eric, I'm sure she's fine."

"You can't find her, can you?"

"We don't have time, the sun is almost up. Can you drink?" I heard her skin pierce from the pressure of her fangs, then she dripped blood into my mouth. I could barely swallow and I couldn't drink. I was dizzy then. I closed my eyes and I was out.

I awoke to Dr. Armatrading trying to pour blood into my mouth. I couldn't focus on anything in particular. I closed my eyes again. I was so dizzy.

I heard Natalia praying. I didn't want her to be sad. I tried to tell her that I would be okay, but I couldn't move my lips to speak.

I felt someone washing my face and all the cuts on my body. I tried to open my eyes, but it was too much effort. I heard the water running again slowly, and the sound of someone squeezing liquid from a towel. I tried to laugh, Virgil's brain going down the drain.

I heard a gasp, and felt my Angel approaching.

"Oh, Eric." A moment passed where I'd heard Pam comforting her. "Eric? It's me, it's Sookie." She kissed my ear and I wanted to hold her. If I could have shouted, I would have.

"Eric, come on, you're scaring us all." She crawled into the bed beside me and threw herself over me. She smelled so good, so sweet. It was tangerine. That was the citrus note that my roses were missing. I felt her wrist against my lips. I tried to part my lips to kiss her wrist, but it was too much effort. I felt her sit up. I must have been a sight.

"He is too weak to bite." I heard Dr. Armatrading from across the room. I wondered where Pam had gone.

"Eric, it's me baby, it's Sookie. I know you can hear me. I need you to drink, okay? I need you to…" She sounded so afraid. I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that I only wanted to see her before I died and that I was okay now. I heard her cry out and then I felt blood drip into my mouth. I reached out with my tongue, but it was so very dry and took so much work that I couldn't drink from her. She became frantic then.

"No, Eric! Drink." She must have sucked her own wrist, because she put her mouth to mine, and my mouth filled with blood. I swallowed what I could. I tried to kiss her back but I couldn't. They talked about taking me to the hospital. I just wanted to lie in my bed, with my wife. I didn't want to die in a strange hospital bed. I laughed inside because Sookie was finally in my bed, and I was dying. Sookie was protesting making the decision to send me to the hospital, but not for the reasons I wanted. She didn't realize that our marriage is legally binding. Even human law recognized that if you participated in a vampire wedding ceremony, that vampire law preceded human marriage laws. If I'd been stronger, I would have fought her on that point. I heard Pam promise to take care of her too. Pam. Where would I be without my wonderful Pam?

I felt myself being lifted. My left arm fell off the gurney and Sookie had my hand in hers. "Eric, I'm here. I won't let you go."

I needed to make sure she was okay.

"S---Sookie S-----Safe?"

"I'm safe, and you're safe. I've got you and I won't let you go."

I could have cried if I had tears. She held my hand as we traveled. She kept her bleeding wrist pressed to my lips and she told me that she'd stay with me forever, that she was mine and mine alone. I prayed that she meant it. I had a hard time trusting, and I needed her to mean it.


	4. Chapter 4

I slept for a long time, but I must not have stirred much because every twenty minutes or so, I could feel Sookie nearby. There was no way for her to know if I was still present or not, so I made an effort to breathe when I was awake. I hated to worry her so, but I was desperately tired.

I heard Pam asking Sookie to stay with me, but she didn't say anything at all. I couldn't tell if she nodded, or smiled or shook her head no. I began to worry a little that she was here because she felt obligated. The last thing that I wanted was for her to be with me out of a sense of self-preservation or obligation. I felt Pam nearby suddenly, and she was whispering in my ear in Swedish.

"She loves you, but she is afraid. I will remind her of what you have done for her and show her that you have always kept her best interests at heart. I want you to find love Eric. I like you better when you're happy. Please be here when I get back."

I appreciated Pam trying to help me and Sookie solidify our relationship, but she seemed to be making it worse. Sookie was still upset about our pledging marriage in front of Victor Madden. I wished that she would understand, I didn't have time to consult with her. He was coming to take her to Las Vegas with him. The only option that I had was to declare that she couldn't leave because she was my wife, and I wasn't allowing it.

I couldn't wait to be well so that I could explain everything to her.

I drifted off again briefly, but felt her take my hand. She kissed me softly and I felt my chest swell again. I really needed to tell her that I loved her and whatever happened, happened.

"Eric, I really could use a wink, a smile, anything, just let me know that you're in there and that you're okay." I squeezed her hand as best I could to reassure her that I could hear her.

"Be okay, for me? I hate to admit it, but I can't imagine my life without you now. You just wormed your way in and---just don't die." She sounded so upset. I wanted to do everything in my power to reassure her. I struggled to talk as she climbed in the bed beside me. I felt her head on my shoulder and she held my hand up to her lips and kissed it.

"This will be the only time we are ever together in the daytime, my love."

I wanted to tell her that if she stayed with me, I would make it so that we could be together forever. I took a deep, unnecessary breath so that she would pay attention and with great effort told her that I loved her. I felt her heart jump, and knew that she was very surprised, both by my declaration, as well as my ability to speak. I drifted back to sleep, happy that even if I died today, she knew that I loved her.

I awoke early in the evening. Pam was curled in a chair. When she saw me lift my eyelids, she moved very quickly towards me.

"Are you all right?"

I whispered back, "Getting there. What would help me is my mother's blood. Do you remember what I told you about the box?" She nodded and I was so proud that she had an excellent memory. "If you could get it, I'll ask Sookie if she would consider giving me blood."

"Does she love you enough for it to work?" Pam had her doubts. I had to admit, I had my doubts as well. Sookie hadn't been very forthcoming with her feelings, but she'd tried to tell me something at the Langley Hotel and I'd interrupted her. I assumed that she was about to tell me that she loved me.

"Wake her and ask her."

Pam shook Sookie. She groaned, but did not stir. I couldn't move very easily so Pam stroked Sookie's cheek and said her name. Sookie rolled over in her sleep and let out a little snort. I smiled.

"Just have the nurse draw her blood, she probably won't mind. We're married for God's sake." Within half an hour, a nurse, who'd also attempted to wake Sookie, had her blood in a vial and handed it to Pam. Pam was then to take it to Ravenwood, mix it with my mother's blood and recite a scripture that Meshra had inscribed on a papyrus. She would bring the blood to me and if Sookie really and truly loved me, she would drink from the vial and save my life. I couldn't tell her anything at all about the process or it would not work. The enchantment worked solely on the faith of love, not coercion. Pam pushed the hair from my eyes, kissed me on the forehead and promised that she would return soon.

I awoke to Sookie telling me that she would be right over in the bathroom. Her mood had changed dramatically since I'd told her I loved her. I would tell her every day of our lives if she would let me. She mentioned that there would be visitors. Pam had arranged for my subordinates to donate blood to me to help me recover. What I really needed was the blood that I'd won from my mother. My mother's blood would heal me faster than any of the blood available at this hospital regardless of who donated it. There wasn't a vampire in the western hemisphere older than my mother, and she'd given me blood to use in an emergency. I believed with all of my heart that this qualified. I needed to be mobile and upright if I was going to protect Sookie. Sookie was brushing my hair. I loved her for it. She wanted me to look my best, even as I lay dying. I wished I could smile so that she would know that I was proud of her.

De Castro and Victor Madden came in. I was genuinely surprised, but happy that Sookie was here so that they could see that she and I were a couple. This would negate any and all claims that Quinn could submit. My brave girl had saved us both.

I felt de Castro slip a signet ring onto my finger. So, he was marking me as his property. I would lose it as soon as I could. I didn't need his protection and while he may have thought this was a grand gesture, I was more vampire than he would ever be. I was disgusted that he would try to lay claim to me.

One after the other, vampires came in and paid tribute. I would be a repository for their weak blood, and I could feel myself absorbing their experiences as well as traces of their weaknesses and attributes. I was glad Pam was managing the queue, weaker vampires would be weeded out, and I would not have to take on their insecurities and failings. I hated to be a snob, but I needed my mother's blood. And then Bill Compton came in.

Thor knows I hated that guy. I found him boring, shabby and utterly American. I couldn't stand his face, nor his voice and I especially couldn't tolerate the fact that he raped my wife. I would send him to South America or perhaps Poland, or China. He began talking, and I felt my soul draining away. How I hated him.

I detected that Sookie picked up on my emotions because she was sending him away. Good girl. He declared that he wasn't sorry that this had happened to me and that I had taken her from him. He'd raped her! He didn't deserve her. In my most desperate state, I would never, ever harm her. He was such a self-righteous pig. I raised my eyelids to let Sookie know that I was disgusted by him. When he kissed her forehead, I could have flown off the bed and torn his throat out.

I had a burst of energy then, probably from Thalia's blood, Odin bless her, and when Sookie approached me, I lifted my arms to her. I was glad that I could hold her in my arms. She began crying immediately, and I shushed her. My poor Angel had been through so much since she'd met me.

"Sookie," I was stunned by how craggy my voice sounded, but I seemed to be on the mend. I said a silent thank you to Odin that I had someone to live for. I called Pam over and told her that I thought Sookie might be ready, that she might love me. She raised her eyebrow and looked at Sookie. Pam understood that I was going to ask Sookie to drink from the vial with me, thereby joining us together permanently. I sent Pam out to perform the second to last step of the blood ritual. I didn't know how to explain to Sookie that there would be side effects; I didn't know what they were. I only knew that I had to protect her and I needed to be well to do that. I could tell that she was still upset about Bill Compton's visit.

"I know that Bill is unhappy and jealous but to call our relationship a sham is too much."

"He has heard it from the tiger that I did not consult with you before announcing our changed relationship." I was certain that Bill knew that I had asked Sookie to pledge to keep her out of de Castro's hands. His assumption was that I was merely trying to protect my position as Sheriff. The truth was, I didn't care if I wasn't Sheriff, some things were more important. I kissed the top of her head while she sat quietly with me, but I was curious about why she was so upset about our pledging.

"Lover, why does it bother you so, when someone calls you Mrs. Northman?" Are you that unhappy with me?" I hated to sound insecure. I hated the vulnerability of being in love. But I didn't understand what I could do to make her happy.

I've told you before, I'm unhappy with how you handled it. I want to be consulted about decisions that affect me."

"There wasn't time to consult you. Victor Madden showed up in Shreveport and I had to act fast. He came here to take you; to take you away from me and I couldn't allow it. I knew you would hate that. Yes, I was selfish, but I'm not sorry." I wasn't the least bit sorry. She would be in Las Vegas right now, interrogating dealers about missing poker chips and cheating vendors. Her life would not belong to her, and I would probably never see her again. I hoped to change the subject. I wanted her to come and live with me in Shreveport. I hoped that by giving her Ravenwood, that would sweeten the deal, but Sookie could be headstrong.

"My love, what did you think of my home?"

" Um, what I saw was lovely." I detected contempt and sarcasm in her voice.

" It's yours." I smiled at her, meaning for this to be a significant moment, but she tended to react to everything in the exact opposite way that I wanted.

"I don't know what you're playing at Eric, but I don't need a house, I have a house. And it's in Bon Temps, not Shreveport."

"I want you to live with me. I want us to be a proper couple, husband and wife…Have I said something wrong?" I wasn't sure why she was getting angry and I was too tired to argue with her about it. She could exasperate me to no end sometimes and I didn't ever know if it was pride that kept her from just accepting me, or if I'd just misjudged her and she truly did see me as a generous friend. I began to wonder if I'd made the right decision about pursuing her. I felt doubt creeping in again, and I had to wonder why I couldn't find a woman who would take me as I am.

"Listen Eric, my Gran taught me that if a man is in an all-fired hurry to get you to marry and settle down, that that's a good reason to put the brakes on and slow things down. What's got you in the marrying mood?"

I didn't respond to her. This was no mood. I'd wanted her for years and she was either being willfully blind to it, or she wasn't very smart. At that moment, I wanted her to go away. I was embarrassed that I had laid my heart out and she was giving it back, so to speak. I wanted to be alone more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I felt my jaw clench and I wished that I had died by the roadside. I was sick of the unfairness of it. I had worked so hard to show her that I loved her, and she ignored it all; every gesture, every gift, every kindness, yet Bill, Quinn and even Sam Merlotte got a pass.

"You're not thinking clearly, you don't want me in Shreveport with you."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want you there. I need to be able to protect you." I said it quietly because I was feeling defeated. I'd never been this angry with her since I'd met her, and I feared that I would say something hurtful if she didn't leave.

"Like when Lochlan and Neave took me?"

When she said this, it was as if she'd plunged a dagger into my heart. She blamed me still. I looked at her, and she knew. She couldn't take back what she said, and she knew then that she'd wounded me. I glared at her and as she tried to climb into the bed beside me, I turned away from her.

"Sookie, I'm really tired. Can we agree to talk about these things some other time?" I made up my mind then that I was finished pursuing her. She and I would never be past this point in our relationship. She blamed me for her being tortured, and I was hurt by her refusal to acknowledge my feelings. We were doomed. She stood behind me, watching me. I couldn't look at her. I was on the verge of hating her for not wanting me. I knew it was ridiculous even as I felt it, but I couldn't help myself.

"Did you mean it when you said you love me? Or were you just saying that out of gratitude?"

"Why are you doing this?" I hadn't ever known Sookie to have a vengeful streak, but it felt as if now that she had me in a weak spot, she was digging in further. This was everything I hated about being in love. No one in the world could hurt me, except her and she was enjoying this. My abdomen knotted, and I wanted to vomit for the first time in an eon. I felt Pam coming up the elevator, so when she knocked, I told her to go away. Sookie saw that a tear had run down my cheek. I didn't want her to know that she'd upset me so, but I was too emotionally fatigued to care. It was my own fault that she had the idea that nothing could ever hurt me, but she was wrong.

"Has something changed, Master Eric?" Pam never referred to me as Master, but she knew when she saw my expression that I was desperately unhappy. I growled low in my throat. I was facing the only women I'd ever loved and neither of them wanted me. I'd rejected the only woman who did. Sookie came around to the other side of the bed and looked into my eyes. She kissed the blood trail and I felt her trying to push me emotionally. I was so upset with her and myself that I couldn't stand it.

"Just rest, I wasn't trying to hurt you." She kissed me, but I refused to kiss her back. She whispered that she loved me. I felt my jaw clench again. I'd been dying to hear her say that she loved me, and it was like this. I turned away from her and bit my lip.

Sookie and Pam left the room. Sookie said that she was going for a walk to get some air. I decided that I would release her when she got back. If she felt stuck, or put upon or wanted to blame me, that was fine, but I didn't have to put up with it. Maybe she did need to work for de Castro so that she could appreciate everything I'd done for her. I had never considered her a brat before, but I was starting to think that she was a little too spoiled for her own good. I saw my cell phone on the bedside table and thought about calling Allison. She had always been there for me. She would listen to me without comment and only give advice when I asked for it. I reached for the phone, dialed her number, but hung up when I realized that I was using her. She didn't deserve that. She was in love with me and I would be abusing that. I closed the phone and set it down on the table. This was my own mess, and I'd have to fix it.

Pam came in and she looked very upset. I suspected that she'd given Sookie a piece of her mind.

"Are you sure she's the one you want to be bonded to permanently? She doesn't appreciate you in the slightest bit. You should send her away and see how she likes fending for herself."

"I was considering that before you came in actually. Pam, I need to ask something of you. As you know, my mother's blood requires that I mix it with the blood of someone who loves me. If Sookie does not love me in that way, do you love me enough that you would give me your blood and allow me to get better."

"Of course I do, you know that I love you. I would die for you, Eric. You've been a wonderful maker."

"I just meant the whole thing with Marius, do you hold that against me still?"

She looked down when I said my brother's name. I knew that they still had feelings for each other, but I feared that Pam was letting time soften her stance against him. I had forgiven him, sure, but what he'd done to her was unacceptable.

"I never held it against you, Eric, I was angry at you because Marius wasn't there for me to be angry at. I do still love him; I suppose I always will. I'm sorry that I wasn't in love with you. You deserve to be with someone who loves you and only you. That's why I'm not sure Sookie is right for you. She is insisting on knowing why you didn't come to her aid. It's really immature of her to hold it against you most of all. Where was Jason for that matter? Where was Niall? You're the one who loves her and she blames you. That infuriates me to no end."

"Yeah, I know. Niall always shows up at the very last moment, when all the danger has passed. I'm going to release her from our bond. She will only resent me further if I keep her tied to me. She doesn't want a relationship with me and I won't keep her."

"I'm so sorry, I can feel how much you love this girl, and my heart is breaking for you. Eric, I'm so very sorry." Pam kissed me, and went to the door. We both felt Sookie approaching.

"I know you weren't expecting me back so soon..." she was holding a calla lily, the flower of death. How appropriate, considering our relationship was dying. Pam saw it and rolled her eyes. Of all the flowers in the conservatory…I refused to look at her.

"I have something I'd like to say, Pam if you'd excuse us please."

"I'm not going anywhere. He doesn't want to hear what you have to say. I have advised him to release you and I think that he has finally agreed with me." I ignored Sookie for the first time in our relationship. I thought about going back home to Sweden permanently. If the Vampire Council determined that I'd committed fraud, I would lose nearly everything. I would leave before they'd had a chance to make a decision either way.

"Eric, is this true?' She was addressing me directly, but I was resolute. I would have no further romantic dealings with her.

"I'm releasing you from your pledge to me. I'm sorry that I forced you into a marriage that you weren't ready for. You are free to see whomever you like. I only need you to sign papers for the Vampire Council declaring that you and I are no longer wed. I'll have them sent to your home. I've arranged transportation back to Bon Temps for you, and you can expect a payment for your lost wages."

"Eric, what are you saying? No longer wed? Wait, what is this? What are you saying? Are you dumping me? That's it? Can't we just talk? I made a mistake. I don't know how you feel about me and why you're so interested in keeping me tied to you. I just want to talk. I've been having nightmares. I get closer and closer to dying each time and you're never there. I'm so afraid that you won't ever be there. Pam, please leave."

I knew that Pam might be considering leaving us alone to work this out, but as far as I was concerned, there was nothing to work out.

I turned to Pam and said clearly, so that Sookie would know that I was serious, "As your maker, I command you to stay here in this room." I didn't have the strength to face her alone. I wouldn't be able to tolerate her badgering me about the fairy ordeal. I would blurt out that she was the reason her cousin was almost killed. As it was the poor child was mute and may never speak again.

"Fine, I don't care if she does hear me. I am here because I love you, and

I just want to understand your motives. Eric, you're making a mistake."

"You won't be the last." I thought of Allison then and wondered if I could convince myself to be with someone I didn't love. Sookie tried to approach me, but I gestured to Pam faster than Sookie could see. Pam blocked her path. I turned my head so that I wouldn't have to look at her.

"Don't do this, don't listen to her. She's wrong. You're wrong about me. I'm not taking for granted all the things that you have done for me. I just want to explain why I'm being so cautious. Eric, please…?" I'd often wondered why she was being so very hesitant in our relationship, but it was probably too late for any explanation that she could give me. Frankly, I was surprised that she wasn't relieved that I had released her. I thought she'd wanted me to let her go. I thought she wanted to be away from me. I was so confused by her behavior. She stared down at the calla lily. I watched her carefully. I'd been through so much to be with her, and this was what I got in return. She hadn't looked up to see that I was looking at her. I loved her. I genuinely, loved this woman and she couldn't see it. She bent over and picked up the lily at her feet.

"Why can't you just tell me what I am to you? Why didn't you come for me? If you loved me, you would have been there. Do you love me? Even a little bit? Bill was there."

"Bill was there because I sent him there!" I'd come undone. I saw her eyes go wide. I had never yelled at her before. She looked panicked, but I was enraged. She stared at me for a few moments. My fangs had run out and I'd ripped the IV out accidentally.

"You'll never know how sorry I am that we ended this way." She stood where she was with the lily in her hand and tried to toss it towards me. Pam caught it and crushed it in her hand. The look of hurt on Sookie's face hurt me too, and I thought that maybe Pam had gone a little too far. She cried out then, and ran from my room.

"Well, that's over."

"Yeah." I stared down at the bloodstain on the sheet. Pam had asked the nurse to draw blood from Sookie for me, and Pam had already begun the ritual. If I didn't complete it, Meshra's blood would be useless to me, and I'd have to go back to her and tell her that I'd squandered it. I'd been so sure that Sookie was the one. "Pam, I may have to try anyway. You've already mixed her blood with Meshra's. I don't have a choice, it's either take a chance that Sookie loves me enough as a friend that the spell will work, or I let it go and spend a year convalescing."

"You sent her away, she has to knowingly and willingly consume the blood, then state out loud that she loves you. The directions were very specific. I'm sorry, I fear that she will let you down, Eric." Pam fidgeted with the fringe on her sweater, she never fidgeted, and I became concerned.

"Is there something else? Something in the incantation that I don't know about?"

"No, no. Just that if she were to come back here, which I don't think that she will at this point, you'll be bonded to her for the rest of her life. Which means, I'll be bonded to her for the rest of her life. I'm not sure that's something that I want. The downside is if she stays away, well, you'll be a miserable son-of-a-bitch for God knows how long until you get over her. I just can't see a win-win situation here."

"I had her blood last night, I can feel that she is heartbroken. I don't understand her. Why would she be so sad if this is what she wanted? Pam, I have to tell you. I'm so confused by her. What is it with you women?"

"She wants you to sweep her off her feet. She wants romance and all of that impractical love business. I tried to explain to her that that's not your style."

"God, my chest hurts, Pam." I clutched at my chest and wondered why she would be sad about us breaking up. This had to be Sookie's grief. I was surprised by the pain. I thought she would be relieved to be free. I felt blood tears begin to stream down my cheeks as they had when she was being tortured. I wiped my face quickly, but couldn't keep up. Pam brought me a warm washcloth and I wiped my face. I was desperately sad suddenly. My eyes misted over and I couldn't see. I wanted to scream from the dull throb in my chest.

"You don't look well. Should I get Dr. Armatrading?"

"No, I'm going to have to get her to come back. I have to go through with this process even if it's not for her sake. I want to go home to Sweden, and I can't spend the next year trying to recover. Will you give me enough blood that I can go looking for her?"

"Are you sure that's what you want to do? I would come to Sweden with you. I would help you recover." The pain intensified suddenly and I was overwhelmed.

"I'm sure, Pam. This pain doesn't make any sense. If she didn't love me, I wouldn't feel this badly. Oh God, this is terrible. She has to be in love with me. Why won't she just say it? I will go after her and get her to see reason, even if it is temporary. It would be so much simpler if I could glamour her."

" I hate relying on humans for anything, they are so unpredictable."

"Yes, yes they are. The one thing I can count on with Sookie is that she will do the exact opposite of what I've come to expect. She makes me so angry, Pam. I never know if I want to strangle her or kiss her." The pain lessened a little, and I could see again.

"That's messed up. That's really, truly messed the hell up." She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of my bed. I hadn't had Pam's blood in decades, and this would be an awkward exchange. I remembered what it had been like when we were first together. She enjoyed it when I held her hair aside, kissed her neck slowly then bit down. So much had passed between us since then. And there was the Marius thing. She realized that I was uncomfortable, so she tried her best to make it as business like as she could. I didn't look in her eyes as she opened her blouse. She leaned forward and kissed me. I hadn't kissed Pam like this in a very long time.

"No matter what happens, Eric. You are loved. Do you hear me?"

I nodded and caressed her cheek. Pam was rarely sweet, so it was a genuine pleasure for me when she was. She turned and leaned her back against my chest. I pushed her hair aside and kissed her neck. She moaned softly. I suspected that she hadn't had anyone take blood from her in a long time. It was so pleasurable, I couldn't imagine why more vampires didn't do it, except that the drinker had a measure of control over you. That was why being with Sookie was so difficult for me. She'd had so much of my blood, that she owned a huge part of my heart for the rest of her life.

I bit down and felt Pam's cold blood slowly pool in my mouth. It was not as I'd remembered, probably because she'd been living on the blood substitute for the last six years. I didn't want to insult her, so I continued drinking. I could feel that she was becoming aroused. I rubbed her shoulders while I drank from her. She closed her eyes, probably thinking of Marius. I stopped for a moment. I thought I felt Sookie coming, but I was enjoying Pam's blood so much that I wasn't sure. The door flew open.

"No, I don't accept this. I don't want this. You don't want this." She gasped, and I felt her jealousy rising up into her chest. It would be good for her to feel a little of the rejection that I was feeling. I was relieved that she'd come back. It meant that she did love me and that I wouldn't have to go looking for her to get her to drink Meshra's blood. I only had to convince her that it was the right thing to do. I took a deep drink from Pam and watched Sookie getting more and more jealous. She looked at me. Pam moaned with pleasure. Sookie surprised me by pulling her sweater over her head.

"Eric," I wasn't sure where she was going with this strip tease. I looked at her curiously. She unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, Pam's fangs came out; she was already turned on by me drinking from her, the sight of Sookie nearly naked was intriguing us both.

"I'm all yours, all you have to do is ask." I wondered if that extended to me asking her to drink blood from a creature that she didn't know based on my word alone. She had taken her bra off, and I wanted to touch her. I was so easy. She knew that all she had to do was get me turned on. Sookie and I had never had any problems sexually. Sex was the one subject where we understood each other perfectly. She moved her hips slowly and rhythmically as she danced around my hospital room. I stopped drinking from Pam so that I wouldn't hurt her. Pam began watching Sookie intently too.

She danced with a bottle of blood substitute, and smeared it all over herself. She was making it next to impossible for me to resist her, even as angry as I had been. She circled her lips with blood, and I wanted to take her mouth. I thought of the night that she and I had made love on her back porch. She'd bitten my lip accidentally and it drove me wild. I wanted her so badly that I was willing to forgive her for almost everything.

"I love you, and you want me…I want you just as much. Just ask, Eric. Ask me to come to you."

She'd finally said it. She loved me. And this time, I believed her. I could feel her heart surging when she said the words. She would be mine if I asked. It was hard to trust her; she'd let me down before. I licked my lips. Her lips were so red with blood. Pam arched her back towards me. She backed into me, and I felt myself stiffening.

"Eric, my lover, my husband. Ask her to go. Ask her to go and I'll come to you. I need you, now. You know my blood is sweet and warm, just like you like it. "

Sookie had called me her husband. Was it possible that she wanted us to work?

"Please leave us, Pam. Let me have my husband to myself. "Now, Pam, he needs me. Don't you, baby?"

Pam got up to leave and I heard her threaten Sookie. I was thoroughly impressed by her courage and what she was doing with her hips. Pam asked if she should leave Meshra's blood. I told her yes, I knew that I'd be able to convince Sookie to drink it. I couldn't look away from her, I felt as if I'd been glamoured and I wondered if fairies had that capability. I told Pam to lock the door on her way out. As she left, I hoped she wouldn't be too mad at me. I had a chance with the woman that I loved if I was wiling to risk it one last time. Pam hesitated for a minute, left me the box with Meshra's blood, then closed the door behind her. Sookie looked at me with her arms covering her chest. My chest warmed as if my dead heart were melting.

"I love you, Eric Northman. You know what I want to hear. Just ask me to come to you and I will be yours forever, I promise." She lifted her arms and showed me her breasts. She knew that her breasts were my favorite. I didn't want to get hurt again, but I had to risk it. I raised my hand and asked her to come to me. I pulled her to me, and she straddled my waist. I nuzzled her neck. I wanted to believe that it could be this easy. I needed to believe that it was as simple as asking, but nothing in my life had ever been that simple. Pam said that all Sookie wanted was for me to sweep her off her feet. I would make a concerted effort.

"Eric, you know what I want to hear." I really wasn't sure if she wanted me to tell her why I hadn't rescued her, or if she was merely asking me to tell her that I loved her. I ran my tongue from her collarbone to her left ear and whispered softly.

"I love you, Sookie" She shivered then, and she rocked her hips gently as if we were making love. I kissed her breasts, lingering over them with my fangs. She begged me to take her blood, but I needed to know that she was serious. I told her it would be soon. As her pulse quickened, I became more aroused. She took my left ring finger into her mouth and sucked on it. She wanted me to know that she was okay with our marriage. I took her ring finger into my mouth. I'd intended to give her a two-carat diamond that I'd purchased in Las Vegas, but when she broke up with me, I'd thrown it into my lake at Ravenwood. We stared at each other. I smiled at her, and she smiled at me. I rolled her over and swatted her bottom for being such a brat. She giggled, and I thought we might just be okay.

"You bad, bad girl."

"You love that about me."

"I do love that about you. I love everything about you." I kissed her fingers and her palm. I licked her wrist where she'd bitten it giving me blood so that it would heal sooner.

"You need to feed, Eric, take it from me."

"I want you. I want all of you, but you need to know that you are everything to me. I don't take that lightly. If you really do want out, I will understand. Being with me is not going to be an easy life for you. I don't want you to hate me in 20 years that you were never able to have my child. That I can't ever take you on picnics and to the beach and all those other things that I want for you. I don't want you to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and see how time has changed you, but not me. My beloved, I can't do that to you if I know that there is the slightest chance that you will hate me for it."

"We will work some things out. Yes, my life will be different, we can picnic at night under the stars, I've never been to the beach so I don't care. It will be different, but it will never be dull and that would be worse for me. Eric, I nearly lost you, and that was scarier to me than anything that you are talking about. I don't even know if I want children. But I do know this; I've never loved anyone the way that I love you. I've never wanted another man so completely as the way that I want you." She kissed me so tenderly that I knew without a doubt that she loved me. I caressed her cheek and kissed her deeply. I stared into her eyes. I couldn't believe how close we'd come to losing each other. "My wife." I was so proud that she was mine. I could feel how happy she was. I sat up and opened the box where I kept Meshra's blood. She sat up next to me. I looked inside; I kept Meshra's wedding ring, the vial of her blood, and things of great importance to me that I'd collected over the years. I took her left hand in mine and I hoped that she would not refuse me.

"If you would care to be Mrs. Northman in the eyes of the great state of Louisiana, as well as the rest of the world, I would be honored if you would wear this ring." When she nodded and smiled up at me, I smiled back at her.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" I kissed her, slowly at first, but I wanted her with every fiber of my being. I felt myself becoming aroused, and I rolled onto my back.

"Make love to me, Sookie." She slipped her panties off and we struggled to get my thin hospital pants off. I lowered the bed so that she would have an easier time taking all of me. She slid up to my mouth and I kissed her. I tried not to bite her lip but I was so hungry for her. She pulled my hair, and I sat up to kiss her breasts. I was so turned on by her that I could hardly contain myself. She took me into her hand and guided me inside her. I held her up and she slid down the length of me. I caressed her back and kissed her everywhere I could get my mouth. I moaned into her mouth and she shivered. I knew that she could feel everything that I was feeling. I lifted my hips to get all of myself into her. I felt her getting ready to come. I asked to taste her, and she told me that I could have her anytime I wanted. She sped up and I kissed her neck.

"Baby, take as much as you need." I stared up at her. I couldn't believe that she and I might be able to make this work.

" I can make this so good for you that you will beg me to bite you every night."

"What do you mean?"

"The stronger our love, and the more frequently we exchange blood, the less it hurts for you. I am becoming a part of you and you a part of me." I hadn't offered myself to anyone in centuries. I was excited by the possibilities before us.

"Then bite me, love." She touched my fangs, then ran her tongue over them. I sat up, licked her neck to ease some of the pain and was about to bite down when she moaned.

"Yes, baby, right there." I stared up at her and she had her eyes closed waiting for me. I smiled and whispered, "I love this, I love that you are mine and that I can have you every night if I like." She had no idea how very close we had come to losing each other. I would never take her for granted again. I felt her shivering in my arms and I held her gently. I sank my fangs into her skin and sucked while she held me. She was about to have me.

I retracted my fangs so that I could watch her. "Take me, Sookie." I slipped my fangs in again and drank deeply. I didn't think I'd ever get to enjoy this again. She moaned again, then bit my neck. When she bit my neck, I felt myself let go inside of her. I rocked her on my lap while she shook, and came in my arms. She fell onto me and pulled the sheet up. I wanted to stare at her naked. She was so spectacular, and she was all mine.

"No. Don't cover yourself, you're beautiful."

"I'm also cold, baby."

I wrapped her in the sheet and hospital blanket. I wondered what she was thinking as I stared at her. She seemed exhausted, so I didn't bother her. She rolled over and began playing with my hair. "So, Mr. Northman, if you're so sure you want to marry me officially, how about tonight?" I was glad that she was eager to marry me; it would make it easier to protect her if she was living with me at Ravenwood, but I couldn't tolerate the idea that I would be in a wheelchair when I married her in what she considered an official ceremony. I had to laugh at that because the state marriage was the one that was for show.

"Not until I can stand beside you without being held up. There is time for that. No one who would harm us knows where we are. We're safe."

"Eric, do you have any idea who attacked you?"

I gritted my teeth. I hated the idea that I'd been tricked so easily. I had let my love for Sookie cloud my judgment. I told her that I didn't want to talk about it and I was insistent. I would find the culprit who sent those backwater hicks after me, but I would use vampire methods and punish the person responsible myself.

She told me that she'd like to go out for a bit when the sun came up. I agreed after making sure that she would be protected. I told Bobby in Russian that he should add Sookie as an authorized user to my credit cards. I told him to use my card, to which he had power of attorney, to purchase Sookie a convertible as a wedding gift from me. He grumbled a little that I was calling so early, but I reminded him that I couldn't exactly call at what he considered a reasonable hour.

I contacted Natalia and asked her to arrange to have toiletries placed in my bathroom for Sookie, including a robe, toothbrush and a vanity set. I closed my phone and laid it on the table.

I closed my mind, a state that Sookie called down time. Vampires can hear sounds that humans cannot hear. It is said that OM is the sound the universe made the moment it was created. We hear the results. I can concentrate and hear the sigh of plants as they release oxygen into the atmosphere. I relaxed my body and listened to the sound of the planet's humming magnetism. I drifted into the quiet space where I heard Sookie's heartbeat, blending with the sounds of the other humans here. I could pick out the subtle pattern of her heart and distinguish it from all the others. I focused on that sound and she slid her hand over my chest. It took me a minute to return from my meditative space, I went deep inside of myself in order to rest. I turned my head slowly and looked at her. I had to ask once more, because this was critical to my survival.

"Are you really mine, Sookie? Really and truly?" If she wasn't serious, Meshra's blood would be useless.

"Yes, Eric. Really and truly for all time."

"Then I'd like to ask that you not continue to see Quinn." She sat up then, and I could see that she wanted me to pay attention.

"I had no intention of ever seeing Quinn again. If you're sure that this marriage is what you want and you're not just doing this to protect me from de Castro, then I swear to you on my life that I won't see him, or any other man again. This isn't a business arrangement for me, I happen to love you, Eric."

"It has been a very long time since…." I fudged the truth a little because she didn't need to know about Allison. I had made a mistake and I would pay for it if I revealed that I technically had been dating someone else while we'd been separated. I knew that I should be honest with Sookie, but I truly believed that we would both be better off if I just forgot that Allison Humphrey existed. At some point, I would have to ask Allison to not say anything to Sookie, because I would probably run into her at Vampire functions. I didn't want Sookie to find out from Allison that we'd been seeing each other for a few months and that we'd very nearly consummated our relationship. Sookie wouldn't understand what Allison meant to me.

"Do you trust me, Sookie?"

"Yes, Eric, I trust you with my life."

I was glad, and surprised that she'd phrased it that way. She very well may have been trusting me with her life. For all I knew, Meshra's blood was strong enough to kill her with one sip. As it was, my mother had only given her blood to Fallon and Marius. I hadn't had it because the possibility of side effects troubled me. Meshra had warned us all that once we'd ingested her blood, we had to be very discriminate about who we gave our blood to. She mentioned a certain life force that was too dangerous to be available to the vampire community at large. I wondered for the thousandth time what my mother was exactly. She'd said she was something like an angel trapped in a human form, made vampire by a diseased half dead witch.

I swirled Meshra's blood to ensure that I had all of our blood mixed together. I was surprised that Sookie didn't ask why the blood was black. I would have to explain that my mother's blood is black and not red like the rest of ours which meant I would be breaking one of the rules of the enchantment.

"Would you take one drink of this for me if I asked you to?"

"May I ask what I'm drinking or is that not okay?"

"I can't tell you anything at all right now. But I swear that I will. If you trust me." I saw her eyebrow shoot up slightly and I realized that she was thinking about the fairies. I would murder every one of them if I had to. I needed her to trust me, I needed her to finish this process with me. To my relief, she nodded and I took the stopper off, tilted it to her lips and gave her a healthy drink. When she had swallowed, I kissed her and asked if she loved me.

"With all of my heart. Eric, what is this about?"

"You have saved me." I drank the rest of Meshra's blood and felt my throat tighten. Fallon told me that it was the first time she didn't have a problem keeping blood down, but Meshra insisted that Fallon would go insane if she had a steady diet of her blood. I was nervous about the side effects, but Marius seemed okay.

I felt Sookie's hand trailing down my chest, stomach and lower. She was ready for me again. I kissed her, believing for the first time that we would be okay.

"I just love you, Eric."  
"I love you too, Sookie."


	5. Chapter 5

I had vivid dreams, dreams of Sookie. Sookie and I were in a meadow in what appeared to be England. It was warm, but a torrential rain would be coming soon. It was then that I realized that the sun was not totally down. I panicked and looked for a place to cover myself. I looked at my skin, waiting for the smoking, fearing that at any moment I would burst into flames. I looked at her and asked her to help me cover myself. She smiled and gave me a pear. I pointed to the sun, but she didn't seem to notice. She insisted that I bite the pear. I put it to my mouth and bit in. I didn't have fangs. I was able to chew, and I felt the pear slide down my throat. I felt the juices running down my chin and onto my shirt. I sucked at the pear and swallowed bits of pulp and juice. It was soft and fragrant.

I stood and stretched feeling the sun on my shoulders and remembering what it had been like to milk my goats in the morning. She lifted her skirt and showed me a streak of blood that ran down her leg. I ran to her side, but she was smiling. I sat down in the grass with her, and she handed me a white rabbit. I held the rabbit up to my mouth to bite it, but she took the rabbit from me and let it run in the meadow.

The rain began then, and we lay on our backs with droplets running over our faces. I saw her dress cling to her body and I wanted to touch her. Her hair became a mess of blonde tangles, plastered to her cheeks. I rolled onto her and kissed her gently.

She rolled me onto my back and handed me a second rabbit. I petted its wet fur and handed it back to her. She sent it running into the grass.

My sister Fallon and my brother Marius came out of the tree line and told me that I was one of them now; that I was a changeling. I struggled to hear them over the rain. Fallon spoke in Turkish and Marius spoke in Latin. I gathered Sookie, Fallon and Marius and pulled them towards the tree line. We needed to get out of the storm's way.

Meshra covered us with a large blanket and we were suddenly indoors. I couldn't find Sookie. I searched the first floor, and then second. I found her in a bathtub filled with hot water where she was holding a baby to her breast and nursing. She introduced me to her son and said that he would be a tiger like his father. I felt my heart sink. She handed me the baby and I couldn't look at his face.

I turned when I heard someone call my name. Allison stood in the doorway to the bathroom. She was naked and she wanted me to bathe her too. I told her to go away, and when I looked at Sookie, she looked confused. She invited Allison into the bath and I told her no, Allison had to leave. The baby slid into the water and I told Sookie to grab him, but she stood and led Allison to the tub. I backed out of the room and ran down the stairs.

Meshra stood facing the fireplace. I turned her towards me, and she revealed a pair of wings that filled the room. She said that they hurt her and she needed us to pluck them so that she could stay with us. I pulled one of her feathers out, and watched the hole bleed. I saw her white wings turning black from all of the blood, and Fallon was collecting her blood in a cup. Marius held a dress up to Meshra to cover her body, but she told him that she couldn't ascend with clothes on. I knelt before her, afraid that she was leaving us. She stroked my head and assured me that she was trapped and could not leave us. I kissed her hands and told her that I would care for them better.

When I awoke, I knew that I owed my family more than I'd given them. I thought about what my dreams meant, and knew that I while I wanted Sookie to have a child, I would beg her to choose a father that I didn't know. I couldn't bear it if she bore the child of one of her former suitors. I picked up my phone and called Allison. She answered right away.

"Hey."

"Allison, it's me."

"I know." She was quiet, too quiet. I wondered if I'd caught her at a bad time.

"How are you?"

"Truth or bullshit?" I heard her sigh and knew this would be difficult.

"I've only ever wanted truth from you, Allison."

"I'm in love with you and you're in love with someone else. I miss you, I don't have the slightest idea where you are, and I don't know that I'll ever see you again. That's how I am."

"I'm in the hospital."

"What? What's happened?"

"Nothing, just a run-in with some V dealers. I'm fine."

"Do you need me?"

I could hear the tension in her voice and realized that this was a loaded question. I proceeded cautiously. "I wanted to tell you that you will hear about my marriage in certain circles and I wanted to tell you first. I didn't want you to find out from a client. We've reconciled."

"Congratulations." It sounded as hollow as the sentiment behind it. I probably shouldn't have called, but I was trying to be the bigger man. I'd broken her heart and I owed her an explanation.

"Allison, I didn't ever intend for things to go this way. I really care for you, you're a good friend---"

"DON'T. Seriously, Eric. DON'T. Just let it go. I'll be all right."

"I want you to know that I do love you, I'm just not _in_ love with you. I'm sorry that's not easy to hear and I regret losing your friendship, because I enjoy your company."

"Just not enough to be with me. I wouldn't have left you. I wouldn't have ever done the things that she's done to you."

"Please, Allison, don't be petty. You don't know her."

"I'm not being petty. I'm being serious. You've compromised and settled for less with her. I would have treated you like you deserve to be treated. I would have respected your age and position far more than she does." I heard her sniffling and realized she was crying.

"Well I can't help being in love with her anymore than you can help being in love with me. Please don't cry. I didn't call to upset you. I owed you the call. I'm really sorry. I hope you find someone who loves you. You're a wonderful woman and you're smart and beautiful and funny. I will miss our friendship dearly. I love you, take care of yourself."

"Eric, I would have done anything for you. I love you so much, don't do this, don't cut me off. We can still be friends."

"I don't know that we can. It would be too dangerous for us."

"So you admit that you have feelings for me?"

"I'm not denying that I am very attracted to you. But attraction is not enough to build a lasting relationship."

"But it's a start. Eric, I'm not trying to break up your marriage, but seriously. We have a great relationship."

"Yes, we do. We also have terrible timing." I paused and tried to think of the best thing to say. She was sobbing and I felt what Pam must have been feeling all those years. "I just wanted to tell you myself so that you wouldn't hear it from someone else. I respect you and I want you to be happy in life. I have to go. Goodbye, Allison."

"Eric, please? Please come see me."

"What would be the point? You would try to persuade me to be with you, and I would have to hurt your feelings by saying no. I care enough about you to stop you from hurting yourself." I pushed her emotionally to get her to calm down. She told me that she would try to get past this and wished me well. I knew that it was wrong to manipulate her emotionally and that the effects were temporary, but it would get us out of this awkward conversation.

"I love you, Eric. I want you to know that."

"I do. I really do."

"Goodbye, love."

"Goodbye."

I hung up the phone and deleted her number from my contacts list. I was confident that I had done the right thing, and now I could go through my marriage with a clear conscience.

I called Anton and had him deliver twelve dozen Ravenwood roses to my room. I would surprise Sookie with a hot bubble bath while we discussed our plans for the future. I hoped that I could convince her to move in with me, and also to go to Paris for our honeymoon. I'd made a promise to my mother and needed to fulfill it.

I couldn't wait to find out what Sookie thought of her new car and the shopping trip that I'd sent her on. I wouldn't tell her right away how much money I had. It made women weird. I was expecting Bobby anytime now. I knew that he and Sookie had a contentious relationship, but I figured she would wear him down just as she had me.

I went down to the lobby and the desk clerk bowed deeply. I nodded briefly to acknowledge him otherwise he would remain bowed. I enjoyed the respect, but certain aspects of being a sheriff were over rated. I often forgot that some of the treatment I received was due to my purported relationship with "Our Reverent Mother" the vampire, Mahesh-Ra. It was widely known in Europe that she and I were nestmates, but I didn't understand how American vampires never made the connection that she was my actual mother. It wasn't a secret that Fallon, Marius and I referred to each other as brothers and sister.

I nodded at a few other bowing employees of St. Albans. Bobby was pulling up as I crossed the lobby. I saw him rush out of the car to help Sookie out. She caught sight of me, ran inside and threw herself into my arms. I could smell the tiger on her and I was instantly angry given the dream that I had had.

"When?" Sookie jumped and I toned down my anger a little.

"Baby, I didn't…he was at the mall. Bobby and I went for a coffee. He kissed my hand, that's all. I swear it."

"That tiger knows we're here?"

"Baby, I didn't seek him out." She looked genuinely fearful, but I could tell that she was telling the truth. She had a tell when she was lying or stretching the truth. Sookie wrinkled her nose as if she found the act of lying distasteful. I wondered about Quinn knowing exactly where to find her and began to suspect that maybe he had a little more to do with me being drained that I'd originally thought. I took a deep breath to assure Sookie that I was okay. She seemed to calm down, and was confident that I wasn't going to tear out of the lobby in search of him. She hadn't even noticed that I was out of bed.

"I know that, Lover. Come upstairs, I have a surprise for you. It's a good thing I've drawn you a bath, I can't stand you smelling like the circus."

I pulled her into my arms and held her while we awaited the elevator. I didn't ever want to let her out of my arms again if I could help it. She was so happy that I could feel it, and it was rubbing off on me. When the doors slid open, we stepped inside and I pushed her against the wall and kissed her. I had her partially undressed by the time the bell dinged.

"I want to know how it is that you're up and running, so to speak." She smoothed her dress and I smiled and took a sleeping mask out of my jeans pocket. I pulled it down over her eyes and pushed her hair from her face. I slipped a quick kiss on her lips and turned the knob. She was trying to guide herself with her arm outstretched, so I led her into my room. She stopped momentarily, sniffing the air. She smiled and I wondered if she realized that she was smelling Ravenwood.

I guided her into the bathroom. The room was steamy and intensified the sweet perfume of the Ravenwood roses that filled every table and ledge in the room. I slid my hands up her arms and over her shoulders. I felt her shudder as I unbuttoned her dress slowly. I kissed the nape of her neck and thought about sinking my teeth in. I ran my tongue down her back instead.

I knelt down behind her and kissed her lower back. She shivered as I drew lazy circles across her lower spine with my tongue. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lay my cheek flat against her back. I hugged her like that for a moment, then stood. Her hair was getting so long now thanks to my blood. I loved that my blood was making her more beautiful and braver and stronger.

I took the elastic from my hair and pulled her hair up. I had her bra off and I motioned for her to lift her leg as I slid her panties off. I couldn't help myself. I lifted her into the tub and set her down carefully. When she reached for the mask, I grabbed her hand. I wanted to seduce her slowly. I took her tainted hand and scrubbed that disgusting smell from it. I rinsed it gently, and kissed it so that she would know that she is mine and no one else's.

I took a moment and undressed, slipping my t-shirt over my head and folding it over the chair. I folded my jeans and stepped into the water beside her. She leaned towards me and I lifted her mask but kissed her quickly so that she couldn't see the room until I was finished. I held her mouth to mine and deepened our kiss. I slid back and she sat with her eyes closed, and lips parted, properly kissed.

"Go on darling, take a look."

She opened one eye, then the other, and saw my roses. Her mouth opened in shock as I'd expected.

"Oh, Eric. This is spectacular. Where did you get these amazing roses?"

"Would you believe that I cultivate and grow them? They are my own variety called Ravenwood Roses. They bloom at dusk and their perfume lingers for hours."

I had been growing roses for just about a century. I had hundreds of rose bushes that my gardener tended. I had fresh flowers in my home every night for the last one hundred years. Before it was Anton, it was a woman named Lynda. Before Lynda was Herbert and prior to that was an Englishman named Reynolds.

Sookie kissed me and told me that I was full of surprises.

"So, how are you doing? How are you out of bed?"

I wanted to show her rather than tell her, because it was too hard to imagine. I got out of the water and went into the main room. The box where I'd kept Meshra's blood was on the nightstand. I brought it into the bathroom and opened it in front of her. I thought about my mother, brother and sister. I remembered the dream that I'd had and thought about the trip to Paris that I would need to make soon. I'd made a bet with my mother that if I ever found a woman who loved me enough to drink her blood, no questions asked, that I had to bring her to Paris to meet her. I held up the vial. I was still impressed by its ability to keep Meshra's blood from going rancid without any preservatives as long as it was kept chilled.

"This was blood from Mahesh-Ra, the oldest vampire in existence. She speculates that she is nearly 5,000 years old. She gave it to me a few centuries ago with the condition that I use it if I was close to death. When mixed with blood from someone who loves you, its healing attributes are unparalleled. Sookie, your wrist didn't break open yesterday morning, I had the nurse borrow blood from you. And before you get angry with me for not asking, I tried to, and you were sleeping so soundly that we couldn't rouse you. I tried three times. I swear it." I looked at her to see if she was mad, but she didn't seem to be. "I took a chance that you meant it when you said that you love me. Otherwise, her blood was without any power at all. You have saved my life, Sookie. For that, I will be eternally grateful. I should have saved some for an emergency, in case I can't get a hold of her, but I have to be mobile. I have to be able to protect you."

She smiled up at me and I was glad that I'd gone with my instincts to use Sookie's blood. She did love me, and if I hadn't been so stupid about being in love with a human, I would have seen it much sooner. She had probably been struggling with the idea of being in love with a vampire.

"You're welcome many times over, but thank you for considering me. Thank you for trying to ask. Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for my car. Thank you for the shopping trip, and thank you for the roses. Oh, and the house. You don't have to really give it to me. It's obvious that it means a lot to you."

"I would burn it to the ground if you asked. You mean more." As much as I loved my dear Ravenwood, I never wanted to lose this girl again. If she'd asked me to destroy it, I wouldn't think twice about it.

"I would never ask you to do that. Where would we live?"

"Will you come to live with me?"

" I will consider it."

I kissed the tip of her nose and looked at her. I realized that she was kidding and that she fully intended to come live with me. I splashed water at her for teasing me, and she splashed back.

Bobby set the last of her things in the front room, but I wanted to get home as soon as possible. I couldn't wait to sleep in my bed, with my wife, Sookie Northman.

"Please take Mrs. Northman's car back to Ravenwood. We're going home tonight."

"We are?" She looked so surprised that I became concerned for moment that she didn't want to come home with me.

"If that is what you desire. I personally would love to make love to you in my own bed." I leaned in and kissed her again. I wanted to take her right there in the bath. "My lover, if you are hungry, your friend Tara sent a care package through Pam. I could heat something up for you."

"No, no, that's not necessary Love. Can I grab something on the way? I am so excited to see Ravenwood. Can you tell me about it? How long have you owned it? Why is it called Ravenwood Are there secret passageways?" I laughed at her, there were secret passageways and I would take great pleasure in showing her the myriad ways to get lost in my house. I stopped for a second and corrected myself, "Our house."

"Your excitement thrills me, Lover. Turn around." I poured shampoo into my palm and rubbed it into her hair.

"Does it ever blow your mind to talk about time in terms of centuries?"

"Not anymore, "I didn't really start to think about it until I'd existed longer than the oldest man I'd ever known. Then, I realized that I really wasn't going to age. It took some getting used to."

"Have you ever been so bored with life that you…well, considered…."

She trailed off as if she thought that she'd offended me. "I'm sorry, baby. That is really personal. Forget that I asked."

"There isn't anything that you can't ask me. But the short answer is yes. I have considered it. There have been some very dark moments in my history." I thought of my maker Appius and how he'd forced me to do things against my will by compelling me. I was disgusted by his peculiar desires, and I was secretly relieved when he asked Meshra and Titus if I could live with them. I was horrified centuries later when Pam pointed out to me that I had treated her the same way that Appius had treated me. I hadn't meant to demean Pam, but I'd been so lonely. I bit my lip, and Sookie kissed me.

"Eric, we don't have to talk about this now, we have our whole lives together."

I felt her arms around my shoulders and she pressed herself against me. I held her and tried to blot out that dark period. I'd always convinced myself that time would erase the memory of those nights, the fear, my desperation to get away. The knowing looks from other vampires that said that they were sorry for me, but that it was custom. At that time, it was unusual for male vampires to sire males for the purpose of sexual relationships. When Appius left for Germany, I was so elated that I sat in the woods crying with relief. Marius found me and put his arm around my shoulders. He'd crept up so silently that I was startled. I'd only been vampire for seven years at that point. Marius asked if I'd like to share a tiny meal and he pulled a raven from a sack that he was carrying. He snapped the creature's neck and drank for a moment. He handed it to me, and I sank my teeth in. He pushed the hair away from my face and told me that I would be all right, that I was beautiful, and that Meshra had a soft spot for me. He asked me to come back to the house so that I wouldn't worry her.

Marius had always been so tense around me that I didn't know if I could trust him. It wasn't until he, Fallon and I shared blood that I realized that I really could trust Marius. All of that would change when his father died.

Fallon stood in the shadows of three tall trees and said that each tree was one of us, and that we would endure, and thrive with our roots tangled together. I smiled when I thought of my sister and her affinity for nature. I missed them all suddenly, and wanted to get home to Paris. Sookie was staring at me, wondering if I was okay.

"Yes…we'll have other times…." I looked down at her and couldn't believe that I had finally found someone who loved me. "Should we get going? I can tell you all about Ravenwood in the car and the sooner we get home, the sooner I can make love to you."

"We can't make love here and at home?" I felt her hand glide over me, stroking me gently.

"You naughty little thing. You are always ready for me. I like that."

"I like you." We kissed, and I lifted her up and took her to my bed to make love to her, to assert that we belonged together and to blot out the sins of my past.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver arrived and I carried Sookie down the hall to the elevator. She'd wanted to walk, but I told her that I enjoyed carrying her. I could hold her closer that way. She laid her head on my shoulder and asked me what I'd spent the last one hundred years doing. She wanted to know all about America and primarily Louisiana. I told her about my life in Arizona after I'd left Europe. I told her about my railroad projects and my busted stock deal in 1941. She yawned for the third time and I smiled at her. I envied her ability to sleep anywhere. She blinked to keep her eyes open, but as I kissed her head and began brushing her cheek with my palm, she began drifting to sleep. She kissed me once more, then snuggled her head into my lap. I could feel her warm breath on my zipper and I felt myself growing hard. She was learning that art very quickly and I was surprised by her eagerness to be better.

"Mr. Northman, Sir, should I adjust the temperature for your bride?"

"Is it cold or warm?"

"Perhaps, a bit too warm for her."

"That would be fine, Oliver. You know how I forget."

"Yes, sir, I do. She's pretty, that one."

"Thank you. Is all well at home?'

"Indeed, things have been very quiet. I'm sure Natalia will be pleased to have some female human company."

We drove in silence for nearly an hour before I realized that I didn't have the slightest idea what had become of my car.

"Oliver, what happened to my Corvette?"

"Oh, it was a devastating loss Mr. Northman. Completely totaled. That agent of yours at the insurance company said that we'd have to write that one off."

"I loved that car." I could sense that Oliver was disturbed by my accident. My employees were loyal, but primarily because I treated them with great respect. "Any chance I could get them to speed up production on my Veyron?"

"You'll be happy to know that I called them this morning to see if it could be delivered sooner. Ms. Conzetti with Bugatti will get back to you late tomorrow night."

"Excellent, see Oliver, you earn every dime. I keep telling Bobby you're worth the money I invested in you."

"Thank you sir. Thank you very much. She still sleeping?"

"She seems to be stirring a little. Hey, pretty girl." I lifted her head up and whispered into her ear. "I love you, Angel." I kissed her ear and her lips curved into a contented smile. Her eyes fluttered a little, and she rolled onto her back. I stared out the window thinking of how and when I could marry her in a ceremony that she would recognize. I felt her looking up at me, and I looked down into her blue eyes.

"I love you, Eric."

"Hey, you fell asleep." We turned onto Ravenwood Crest. "We're home, Lover." I lifted her up and watched with delight as she smiled and her pulse quickened. I couldn't believe I was coming home with Sookie as my wife.

Oliver assisted her out of the car and I patted him on the back. He was the best driver that I'd ever had. Sookie looked thoroughly impressed. I took her hand and escorted her up the stairs. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the lake. Someday, I might tell her that her two-carat diamond was in there.

She waited for me to open the doors, which I found cute considering I'd given her the house. "So, Sookie, are we going traditional or would you like to carry me over the threshold?"

"How about you just invite me in, and I'll follow you."

"Well, I offered." I couldn't help but smile. She was independent to a fault which often frustrated me. "This, my love, is Ravenwood." I took her coat and led her into the cloakroom. I pulled her into the darkened room and kissed her. I would give her a thorough tour of the house some other night, but at the moment, the only room I wanted her to see was the bedroom. My phone rang and I caressed her cheek while I spoke to Pam.

I saw her admiring the paintings along the walls. Some were friends of mine, others were cutting edge when I'd purchased them. Matisse, Jacques-Louis David and Gustav Klimt had been acquaintances of mine over the years. And while I'd only ever met Pablo Picasso once, I was a fan of his work. My brother Marius became a close friend of his and had an extensive private collection of Picassos that the art world knew nothing about. My brother stood to become a billionaire with his art collection alone.

I ended my conversation with Pam as we entered our bedroom. I would make an effort to conduct business away from our bedroom now that Sookie was with me officially.

She stood in the center of the room, taking it all in. She wasn't used to having people wait on her. I would change that for her and make it so that she never had to lift a finger if she didn't want to.

"Pam stopped by before she went to Fangtasia for the evening. She left you a note." Pam had wished me well on the telephone and called to ensure that we were settling in together. I told her to get off the line, or she was going to hear more than she'd anticipated. She said that she'd be right over, but I knew that she was joking. A scrap of white lace caught my eye and I held up what turned out to be a see-through peignoir.

"Very nice, Sookie. What does Pam have to say?"

"She left this out for me and she's sorry that she won't get to see me in it. Oh, and she told me to tell you to hire a ladies maid."

"That Pam." Pam acted as if she resented running errands for my human wife, but I knew that she was happy that I had found someone to love me so that she didn't have to feel guilty about not being in love with me. I was so happy that I could forgive her insolence as playful since that had been her intention. "Now, put that on so I can tear it off."

"But I like it, I've never owned a see-through nightie before."

"I will buy you another. I grow impatient."

She smiled that seductive smile that won me over in my hospital room. I heard her fussing with her clothing in the bathroom and decided to take matters into my own hands. I threw the door open and saw that she was admiring herself in the mirror.

"Lover, I cannot wait any longer." I picked her up and set her on the marble vanity. I was so eager to have her that I could hardly wait for her to be in a comfortable position. She drew a sharp breath as I slid into her. I loved this moment more and more every single time we made love. She was so into it. I could feel how different I was since I'd had Meshra's blood. I wondered if she could tell the difference.

I watched her in the mirror. She was the perfect image of ecstasy, eyes closed, mouth parted. I could smell her blood. I could feel it making its way from her heart to her center. I buried myself in her center, and held her. Her blonde hair, so close to my own hair color, spilled around her shoulders. She began to sweat, and the fabric was tight over her breasts, clinging to her skin like in my dream. I threw my head back and felt my fangs click into place. This was always such a good moment for me. I could feel her heart beat racing, and I went into predator mode. All I could think about was sinking my fangs into her delicate, unbroken skin. Vampire porn always talked about the curve between a lover's shoulder and just under the chin. We called it the cusp because one look at this stretch of skin would send you to the cusp of madness.

As Sookie began to sweat, a bead trailed down her temple, and down her throat. I licked it and bit her ear softly, but not enough to break the skin. She let out a low moan and turned her head so that I could get to her neck. I pulled out slowly, and pushed into her deeply. She loved that.

"Eric, the bed. Now."

She was desperate for me. I carried her on my waist and she continued sliding up and down my length while I carried her. She was becoming wild with passion. She climbed up onto the bed and got on her knees in front of me encouraging me to take her. She tossed her head over her shoulder. I'd never seen her like this. She grabbed the pillows and pulled them under herself. I heard myself growl and she screamed with pleasure. I grabbed her hair in my fist. She arched her back away from me, begging me not to stop.

I couldn't have for anything in the world. I pressed my chest against her back and wrapped my arms around her stomach. She leaned her head back into the nape of my neck and I felt her hair slide over my left shoulder. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I gave into her. She murmured that I should bite her, and I couldn't hold off anymore. I licked her neck, knowing that I would be undone as soon as I felt her blood in my mouth.

She threw herself onto the bed as we moved together. I kissed her everywhere I could get my mouth as she convulsed under me. We collapsed onto the bed with her flat on her stomach. I rolled her over, bit her neck softly and drank. It was a good thing that my mouth was full, or I would have frightened her with the moans that tore from my throat. She was still quaking beneath me as I lifted my head and we shared a bloody kiss. I licked her mouth and cheeks clean and she stared into my eyes. We shared a long moment when I knew that we could feel each other's emotions. We loved deeply and fiercely, which is why we'd always fought each other so hard. I studied her chin, her cheeks, her mouth and her eyes. She cupped my face with her hands on either side of my cheeks. I concentrated all of my being to express how much I loved her and I knew that she understood me. She smiled up at me with a look of such love and devotion that I concentrated on her feelings and sensed her pushing at me. She was silently telling me everything that I'd ever wanted to hear. I was ecstatic.

We fell onto the bed, laughing and exhausted. She pulled the sheets back and I got in beside her.

"You won't be here when I wake up, will you?"

"No. But I will be close by." I would be directly underneath her as a matter of course. She wouldn't realize it, and soon I would reveal my sleeping space to her, but I had to ensure that she understood that she absolutely couldn't tell a soul. I still had the fang of a vampire who tried to betray my sleeping space.

"I will miss you horribly."

I was touched by her admission. "Not as much as I will miss you." I kissed her neck and licked her wound to ensure that she wouldn't scar. She caught sight of the mural above my bed. I got up and closed the draperies that would seal us away until the very last moment when I would have to leave her.

"This reminds me of when Jason and I would play tent in the living room on rainy days. We would drag all of the blankets out of the linen closet and tie them to chair backs and the banister. Sometimes, when Gran would help, she would run clothes line between the kitchen and dining room and we would drape blankets over that and read by flashlight, and tell ghost stories."

"He took good care of you."

"We took care of each other. He's a great guy, I hope he finds someone to make him happy."

"Are you happy?" I stared at her nose, checking for "the tell." Her nose didn't wiggle an inch.

"I am." I took her into my arms and went into myself to relax and enjoy being with my wife.

"Which stars am I looking at here?"

"That is the night sky, as seen from my village about the time I was turned. I had an astronomer recreate the probable star positions and then I brought an artist in. It is relatively new actually. I got it a year ago, I think."

"If you had told me a year ago that we'd be here, like this…I just wouldn't have believed you."

"I have been telling you that you were meant to be mine since you were presented to me at Fangtasia."

"I was not presented to you. We call that introducing."

"You were laid out before me as a banquet for my eyes and mind; now, a feast for my body and soul. So I think presented is appropriate."

"As romantic as you are, why haven't you been snapped up several times?"

"We'll discuss those things another time. I'll have to leave you soon and there are some things we need to discuss. The staff that manages my household lives here at Ravenwood, but they have there own homes down the lane by the lake. Don't be startled if you see them around at various hours. I had Bobby leave a house key for you on your car key ring. The alarm code spells out "Seven" don't reveal this to anyone for any reason. I have a housekeeper and groundskeeper that report every day at 8 am. Natalia Gurova is my housekeeper. She is very good at her job and proud of it. She is supposed to be bringing you food for the kitchen. I have a kitchen, but I can't tell you the last time I was in it, so if you require something, leave her a list. She buys my toiletries on Wednesdays, so I'm guessing she could buy groceries for you then too. By the way, she knows that you'll be here so don't worry about scaring her.

Anton Gurov is her younger brother; he takes care of the grounds and makes sure that I have fresh flowers in my room and throughout the house every day.

Carl is the maintenance person. You may not see him very often, or if you do, it will be in passing to go to the mechanical room.

Oliver takes care of my cars and Brady manages my horses. If you decide to go riding, make sure you get with Brady, as he will have to pair you with the right horse for your temperament but tell him I suggested Avalon. They all answer to Bobby Burnham. so, if you have any problems with anyone, or if you need to contact one of them, let Bobby know. Pam is right, you do need an assistant. I'll have Bobby look into that tomorrow. He checks this daily. Sometimes I leave notes for him in the butler's pantry, otherwise he's to retrieve notes from my phone."

She laughed suddenly.

"What is so funny?"

"Everything. Our lives couldn't be more different."

I sat up preparing to crawl into my sleeping space.

"I mean if I run out of Tide, I have to go to the SuperSaver and grab Tide. If my car breaks down, I have to spend a good hour fretting about how I'm going to pay for it before anything gets fixed. It's just so different, and no, I won't have an assistant, okay? I'm just me, Sookie from Bon Temps, Louisiana and I can fold my own laundry and wash my own dishes and drive myself to work and back."

"I applaud your work ethic. But this house requires quite a few more people than that and I don't know if you realized it, but I'm a very busy man." And here it was again, my wife showing her tendency to behave as a spoiled child. I would give her a little leeway, however considering that she had been raised without parents and from what I understood about humans, grandparents always tended to go over board, especially in the absence of parents to temper the wants of a willful child. She thought that she'd offended me, and anyone else but her might have.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Eric. I was only pointing out how different we are."

"We're not so different. You had your grandmother to manage things and when she passed, you had to rely on friends. People without friends pay servants." I hadn't intended for this to come off as poor me. I was quite capable of taking care of myself. I chose to pay others to make my life more enjoyable. They too enjoyed the comforts I provided. I'd never had an employee quit because I was unfair or expected too much. In fact, most of my employees tended to die of old age. Before we vampires were out, I had to fake illnesses, or debilitating conditions then pretend to die, sending them away with a tidy severance. I'd resurface in a month or two as the son of, or nephew to Mr. Northman, whose appearance was startlingly similar. I would explain that as a child of Mr. Northman or his twin, of course I would bear striking resemblance. I would push the suggestion that my eyes were slightly different, and my frame a little narrower or wider depending upon what the viewer had come to expect of me. I'd learned this skill from Lord Malbec, one of my mother's oldest and dearest companions.

"I'll see you tomorrow evening then." I kissed her quickly, slightly irritated that she resented how I used my wealth. I knew I'd been right to keep my net worth from her. I closed the draperies so that she wouldn't see me slip down under the bed. I unlatched the crawl space under it, and got down inside. It was warm and dark, and smelled even more like Sookie now that she was above me. I found her scarf and held it to my nose. I would have to get her to wear it again soon if I was going to keep it. I heard the mattress springs sigh as if she was climbing out of the bed. She was looking for me, but she wouldn't think to look for me under the bed. To the casual observer, it appeared that there was a deep chest of drawers underneath. And on her side of the bed, it was storage.

"I'm sorry, Eric. I say dumb things without thinking sometimes. Be patient with me, okay?" I love you. Goodnight." I heard the springs again, then the glide of the drapery on its rod. I could tell by her breathing that she was nearly asleep within minutes.

I told her that I loved her, and I meant it. I lay in the darkness, organizing my thoughts; mentally planning our trip to Paris. My mother would be surprised to see me. I'd left Paris under difficult circumstances nearly twenty-five years ago.

Fallon, Marius and I tended to hunt together in the brothels of Paris. It was easier to pass off vampirism as sex play, and prostitutes seemed up for anything if you were willing to pay. Fallon had stopped going out with us and we suspected that she'd met a man.

One night, Marius and I decided to follow her to see where she was going. At first, it seemed that perhaps she had just found herself a human boyfriend and maybe she was keeping it from us. But as we watched, the evening grew increasingly strange.

We saw her go into a tavern and take a seat with a human who appeared to be in his mid thirties. She greeted him with a kiss, and he handed her a box. They sat with their heads very close together. Marius and I watched from a street level window. If Fallon had looked up at any time, she would have seen us but she didn't. The man was showing her pictures in a large book. She nodded a lot, and I wondered if perhaps she was being lured into something dangerous. Fallon is easily influenced.

We saw the man stand and take Fallon's elbow to lead her to another table. They held hands and slid into a booth in the rear of the tavern. Marius and I waited for her to come outside, but two hours passed and she hadn't come out. I went in to look for her and she wasn't there. Marius suggested that perhaps she had gone out of a back door, but the bartender said that no one had been past him all night. Marius threatened to drain the bartender claiming that he must be in on Fallon's disappearance. I was convinced that Fallon was just trying to escape the family and branch out on her own. I advised Meshra and Marius to give Fallon some space to grow up. At my urging, we waited a week to hear from her. When she didn't contact us, Marius returned to the bar where we'd seen Fallon last. No one had seen her. We hired a werewolf to track her and we searched for her on our own.

We went through alleys, forests and sewers looking for her for three solid weeks. Meshra was completely distraught. Fallon wasn't someone who traveled alone. Ever. She'd never lived alone in all the years she'd been vampire. Meshra wandered the streets at night calling out for Fallon. We had to drag her in at daybreak every day. The Were reported that he'd picked up a scent, but it led him to a scrap of denim from blue jeans that Fallon had been wearing. Marius attacked me. He said that we'd lost a week of searching because I'd convinced them that Fallon needed her space. I knew that he was lashing out at me, but I still felt guilty because I had been so wrong. I'd been projecting my own feelings onto Fallon.

Meshra awoke sobbing one evening, convinced that Fallon was dead. She'd had a nightmare that Fallon had been captured by humans and killed. She'd been half-right. The Were showed up at Lord Malbec's place where Meshra was staying. She said our apartment at The Abbey was too painful. Marius told me to stay home and take care of Meshra, that he would go out and find his sister. I told him that Meshra could take care of herself and that I wanted to find her just as badly considering I had contributed to her being gone longer. We followed the Were down to the banks of the Seine where we found a man, Robert Dumont, working a sightseeing boat. He'd heard rumors of a group of men led by Tristan L'Oiseau, having sex parties on a boat with teen-aged girls. Our Fallon was possibly one of Tristan's girls. We paid the Were and asked Dumont to point out which boat. After plying him with money and liquor, he told us that the boat left the shore at night and returned in the morning. It was the Libertine. Neither Marius, nor Fallon, could fly, so I carried Marius on my back up and down the Seine until we found the Libertine anchored. There were only humans aboard the boat as we landed.

Marius and I could smell Fallon's blood as we approached the windowless cell where she was being held. Each of these humans had tasted some measure of her blood, and they were consumed with madness. When Marius opened the door, Fallon's eyes flew open. She was naked, and hadn't fed in several days. She was bound with silver chains, but it was pure coincidence, as almost no one but vampires knew at that time that silver was so harmful to us. There were two men in the room with her. Fallon began to cry saying that she'd been tricked and captured, but I didn't believe her. I'd seen the expression on her face when we entered. Fallon was in ecstasy.

I caught the men off guard and dispatched with them easily enough. I unchained Fallon and held her in my arms. Marius went to the other cells and drained every man on the boat. He released the other girls being held. We found the strangled bodies of two young girls stowed in a cabin below decks.

I tried to clean her bloody face as best I could, but when Marius came in, she suddenly went into hysterics. Marius told me to stay away from his sister and that's when we fought. Fallon was as much my sister as his, I argued. But Marius insisted that since they shared a father and mother, that I was an other, an outsider.

When I'd first come to live with Meshra, there'd been a rumor that Fallon and Marius had engaged in a sexual relationship when she was first turned. They both denied it, and it wouldn't have been strange except that we were living as a conventional family. If Meshra had established us as a nest of equals, the area vampires would never have given it a second thought. But vampires who took on familial structures were expected to adhere to those models and sex was expressly forbidden.

Marius vigorously denied the rumors, and Fallon shrugged them off. I'd always taken him at his word, but this raised my suspicions yet again. I reminded him that the three of us had shared each other's blood and taken an oath. He told me that I never seemed to be looking out for her interests and that I should leave Paris. I tried to comfort Fallon who was upset about us fighting yet again. I asked Fallon why it was that she was only upset in Marius's presence, and he slammed his fist into my jaw. I was thrown back against the side of the wheelhouse. I shoved him down and told him we should concern ourselves with returning her to Meshra safely. I yelled at him that he should have kept a closer watch on his precious sister if she was so important to him. Then he said the cruelest thing that he has ever said to me. He said that I should understand what she was going through since I had been violated. I had never acknowledged what had happened to me. I was livid. I hated being reminded that I was victimized. If it would not have destroyed Meshra, I would have staked him on the spot.

I didn't bother to fly them back to the shore. I went to Lord Malbec's to assure my mother that Fallon was fine and I left Europe the next night. Meshra called so many times that I changed my number. After three months of her badgering me with letters, I answered her. She wanted to apologize for Marius's behavior, but he wouldn't do it himself. I promised her that I wasn't trying to abandon her, but I couldn't be around Marius anymore. He resented the fact that she'd adopted me, and Fallon was so self-destructive that I couldn't stand it. She was upset that our family was being split up again because of Marius and me. I assured her that it was never my doing. She didn't respond, and I knew then that she understood Marius hated me for some reason.

She told me she loved me and that she hoped I would find it in my heart to come home soon. I told her to tell Marius to enjoy having her and Fallon all to himself, that I wouldn't intrude ever again. It was a very sad and difficult conversation but it was necessary. I hated to leave her, but I couldn't be there if Marius was going to be there.

I would be taking Sookie into that nightmare in another day or so.

I shook my head and said a silent prayer that my family would keep their shit together long enough for me to enjoy my honeymoon with Sookie. I heard her snore softly and realized that I hadn't fallen asleep right away. I checked my watch and noticed that it was thirty-five minutes past dawn. I laid in the dark wondering about Meshra's blood, and what I'd gotten us into.


	7. Chapter 7

I heard Sookie in the bathroom when I awoke. I felt anxious and slightly sad. I'd had a restful sleep, so I could only figure that Sookie was broadcasting these emotions. I wondered what had upset her so. I walked up behind her and took her into my arms. "Sookie," I kissed her deeply, letting her know that I'd missed her. "How was your day?"

"It was as good as it can be without you." She laid her head on my chest and I felt her mood shift to contentment. I kissed the top of head. She smelled so sweet, it was as if she'd recently had a shower. I held her and stroked her cheek with my palm. I was so glad that things were settling down and that she and I could concentrate on getting to know each other. She pulled away from me slightly and I stepped into a pair of jeans, but no shirt. I got my phone to check my messages from Bobby. This was typically my first task of the evening. I had a message from Bobby saying that Pam wanted to welcome Sookie and me back to Shreveport before I took her on our honeymoon. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to marry her in a human ceremony. I called Bobby and asked him to contact her brother and friends. I asked him to have Pam get on the decorations and to make sure that he called that female minister who officiates at vampire-human ceremonies. I went into the sitting room to build a fire and relax before the evening's events. I hadn't bothered to put on a shirt,

"Hey lover, Pam is having a party to welcome me back to Fangtasia tonight. You up for a party?"

"I could use a party like nobody's business."

I began to build a fire and I saw Sookie appreciating my physique as I laid the wood on the hearth. I struck the match and noticed that she was smiling dreamily. I was glad that I had that effect on her.

"So you play cello?"

I walked over to it, realizing that the last time I'd played it, I'd gotten blood all over the strings. I wondered if the tone would sound okay. I took my bow in hand and began to play slowly. It was one of my favorite pieces. I began playing cello during a brief time living in Vienna, Austria. I hadn't really enjoyed the Bavarian countries as much as I'd hoped, but the cello was something that stayed with me.

I always played with my eyes closed and this time was no exception. Except I felt Sookie become extremely sad. I stopped playing and rushed to her side.

"Lover, why are you crying? Was it something I did? Why are you unhappy?"

"Oh Eric, I'm not unhappy."

I lifted her onto my lap and held her. This seemed to make things worse. I tried to calm her by stroking her back softly. She calmed down after a few minutes and stared up at me.

"You haven't done a thing wrong, you're the bright spot of my day, of my life really. I was just so moved by how beautifully you play. You're really, really good."

She was still crying, so I tried to make her laugh instead.

"Oh, I hope so. I've been playing that damned thing for about 200 years." She finally laughed and I sat her down to get her a warm washcloth and some tissues. I handed her the tissues and sat down next to her. Something had shaken her and I waited for her to divulge what it had been.

"So, I went and got some of my things today. I met Natalia and Oliver and I stopped by Merlotte's to talk to Sam about taking some time off to help you recover."

"I wish you wouldn't work. I wish you would consider doing something else."

"I love my job, baby. I want to work at Merlotte's" I hated the idea of my wife working in a bar for thirty dollars a night when I had so damned much money. She gathered her used tissues up and I took them from her.

"I've got this. Let's just sit for a while, let me hold you." I wanted to get her calm enough that she would talk to me. But she closed down just as quickly as she ever did.

"I will, but I need time to find something to wear to the party. What would you like to see my in, Dressy? Sexy? Casual?"

"Nothing at all if I could get away with it." She crossed our bedroom and went into the dressing room. The clothes that she picked out were certainly nice, but not suitable for a wedding. Of course, she didn't know that we were to be married. I laughed inside that this would be the second time that she didn't know that we were marrying.

"None of this is suitable. We'll find you something else. We have plenty of time, let's go downstairs and you can show me what the kitchen looks like again. You can eat. I'll watch."

"You have to be hungry, do we have any TrueBlood? Or, you could have me if you wanted."

"Strangely enough, I'm not that hungry. But I would love to taste my beautiful wife." I began kissing her neck and left wrist. I could feel the influence of Meshra's blood. I was sleeping less and less and I wasn't nearly as hungry as I'd previously been. Given my age, I wasn't ever one to need to eat every day as it was. I tended to eat out of habit. Since Sookie had come to me, I'd eaten much more than I had for many decades. I took my time with her wrist. I licked it, watching her lips curl up into a languorous smile. She was getting turned on by me nibbling at her. I bit down gently, and when she winced, I stroked her cheek to ease the pain. I could feel her heartbeat throbbing in my mouth and I felt myself growing aroused. I decided that we should hold off to celebrate our official state sanctioned marriage.

I licked her wound and put my arm around her waist as we went downstairs to the kitchen.

Sookie heated a can of soup and I sliced some bread and cheese for her. I kept wine around for the staff, and the few benefits that I held at Ravenwood. I opened a bottle of Chateau Lafitte nineteen-seventy four. I don't know if Sookie knew or cared about wine, but she was about to drink a one thousand dollar bottle of cabernet. I smiled because I would spoil her even if she wasn't aware of it.

She spooned soup into her mouth and I watched her. I loved watching her mouth. She tore through her meal as I often did, except she didn't leave a body behind. She seemed nervous at first, nervous that I would be watching her so closely. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. So did she. I smiled at her. I loved our bond. I loved her noise, I loved her habits and her ways.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Humans are very noisy creatures. I like that you will sit quietly with me."

"I appreciate silence. Sometimes, even the crickets chirping are just too much for me and I try to tune it all out. You let me be me without worrying if you're enjoying my company." I sliced a pear and held up a bite for her to eat. She bit into it seductively and I wondered if we'd make it to our wedding.

"When I was human…" She raised her brow and I wondered if she tended to forget that she and I were metaphysically different. "This was my favorite food. I had a pear tree in my yard and every morning, I would have a fresh pear." I heard Bobby Burnham's car turn onto Ravenwood Lane. He would be here in six minutes or so.

"Eric, am I the only person who knows that the whole tough guy Sheriff thing is an act?"

I raised my eyebrow slightly, I hadn't thought of myself as a particularly tough guy. I had a job to do. Someone had to take charge of my employees. They were weak people who were content to be led around by the nose. That wasn't me. "I am whatever I appear to be. Everyone is…. complex. Given enough time you would have moments of ruthlessness. My position requires that I have a certain detachment. Do you prefer me that way?"

"No, no, I love all of you. I love that you take charge and you command respect. I mean, I knew that you were capable of being quite gentle after our time together in Bon Temps, it's just I'm not used to it."

"You're my wife. I'm not going to treat you the way that I treat Pam and the others. Unless you want me to?"

"Maybe in bed…?"

I laughed at her. She was becoming more and more sexually adventurous with every romp. It was as if she wanted me to teach her everything that I'd learned over a thousand years in a few short nights. She'd encouraged me to try things with her that shocked most women. I had to admit that I'd met my match. I heard the door chime and Bobby came in with a dress for Sookie. I'd summoned him to bring her something to wear, and I impressed upon him the importance that she looked sexy, yet tasteful.

She turned her head suddenly.

"It's the alarm. The doors beep when someone comes in." I walked out into the foyer and greeted the stylists that I was paying to make my Angel even more beautiful.

Bobby was soaked, and I could smell the aloe vera in his hair products. He and Sookie had come to some sort of truce, and I was glad to see it because I didn't want to go through the process of finding another daytime guy.

"Hey Sookie, "Eric said that you don't have a suitable dress for the party so I brought you a dress, some heels and a few assistants to help with your hair, makeup and nails."

"Oh Eric, you didn't have to do this. I could have put something together."

"I don't want you to throw something together, this is a very important night. I have a surprise for you. Now my lovely lady, go upstairs, make yourself even more stunning than you are now and I will meet you at Fangtasia at eight."

"Where will you be?"

"You just be there by 8 and don't be late. I mean it. If you're late, I will put you over my knee." I would put her over my knee for sport even if she were early.

"Just for that, I will be late."

Sookie gave me a kiss and I swatted her bottom and watched her run upstairs.

Bobby looked at the wine and I poured him a glass.

"Does she have any idea about tonight?"

"No, no. She accepts that this is a party to welcome us home before we go on our honeymoon. Would you call down to Anton's and ask him to put together a bouquet of roses for her. Bring it to the club for me will you?"

"Sure thing, sir. I've arranged the flight, and transportation from Charles de Gaulle to The Abbey. Anubis is taking care of the coffin you don't have to bring yours.

"I'm tempted to tell my mother that I'm on my way, but I'm not sure I want to see Marius just yet. Do you have our passports?"

"I do, but you're technically still a French citizen, so they only need your identity card. I have a question about us traveling, how do they verify who you are without opening your coffin?"

"Anubis handles that. They interview the crew after the flight to verify that I'm the vampire on board and that I'm sealed inside their coffin. That's why I can't take my own. Is my tuxedo ready?"

"Yes, I have that for you. Would you like it now/"

"I'm going to shower and get dressed down here in one of the guest bedrooms. Will you tell Oliver to have the car ready for Sookie to be at the club by eight?

"He requested the night off to attend his daughter's recital."

"Oh. All right. Well, if you would please move Sookie's car to the front drive so that she will not have to walk down to the garage."

"I'll take care of that too, Sir." I'll meet you at Fangtasia, I've got to get started."

"Oh, and also, if you would, send Oliver's daughter, Amelie, a bouquet of flowers from me and Sookie."

"Yes sir, I'm on that too."

I took my tuxedo from him and went into one of the first floor guest bedrooms. I showered and dressed, inspecting my face in the mirror. I was turned when I was about 31 years old. My features were boyish enough that I looked somewhat innocent, but mature enough to lure in women of all ages. All I wanted now was one woman in particular, and she was about to publicly acknowledge that we would be married for the rest of her life. Sookie didn't want me to turn her, but I hoped that at some point before she got old that she would consider allowing me to turn her. I couldn't imagine my life without her now.

I splashed on some cologne and straightened my tie. I thought about slipping up the stairs and surprising her, but I knew that she would be more surprised if I waited for her at the club.

I went out front and climbed into my Maserati Quatroporte. I loved driving this car. I wanted to make love to Sookie in this car. I turned the engine over and listened to it growl. I'd heard Sookie make similar purring noises. I drove with the stereo off so I could listen to the engine.

The parking lot at Fangtasia was filling already. I pulled into my reserved spot and noticed Jason Stackhouse's truck. I walked over to him and shook his hand. I didn't much care for Jason, but he was my brother-in-law, so I had to make an effort.

"Hello, Jason." I saw him recoil slightly and gave him a little bit of glamouring to get him to calm down. He reached for my hand and we shook. "Thank you for coming, Sookie will be so glad that you're supporting her."

"Hey, I'm glad to do it. She's my sister. Just tell me something Eric, do you love her?"

"I love her with all of my heart and will take care of her for the rest of her life."

"Then you two have my blessing." He looked down at the gravel and moved his tie side to side. "Listen, Eric, can I ask you something? Did you notice Sookie acting strange earlier today?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Do you happen to know the reason?"

"No, not exactly, but I'm curious about something. Hoyt Fortenberry called me and said that that bald guy was asking after Sookie down at Merlotte's. I guess Dottie told him she was heading out to her place."

I could feel my eyebrow raise slightly. Sookie hadn't mentioned that Quinn had seen her. I wondered if she'd run into him or if he was just watching her.

"I called her to see how she was doing and she sounded as if she was crying. I didn't say anything because I couldn't talk at the time, but I just wanted to know what was going on."

"I will ask her about it when I get a chance." I looked at my watch and saw that Sookie would be here in ten minutes or so.

"Would you mind moving your truck, I don't want her to see that you are here."

"Oh, yeah. Good idea. I'll see you inside. Good luck, man."

We shook hands again, and he walked away to move his truck. I went in through the backdoor and let myself into my office. Pam walked in as I was pouring myself a glass of _Royalty_.

"You're really doing this, hunh?"

"You disapprove?" I offered her a glass of blood and we toasted to Sookie's and my happiness.

"No, no I don't disapprove. I want you to be happy. I want her to love you as much as you love her and I hope that she does."

"She does, Pam. Trust me, She would do anything for me. Sookie is mine."

"All right. I guess I can stop worrying about you."

"I hope you don't ever stop worrying about me. I love you Pam, you're a dear friend." She came around my desk and kissed my cheek. I kissed her back and when we both heard Sookie's car approaching Industrial Parkway, she hurried out to the bar.

Sookie knocked softly and came into my office, peeking around the door. She gasped when she saw me, and I took her into my arms when she rushed over to kiss me.

"Wow, Lover, look at you."

I looked at her closely to see if she was keeping anything from me. She was so beautiful. "You look even more amazing than I thought you would." She did a little spin and I nodded. I would tear that dress off of her in a few short hours. I pulled her into my arms again and held her closely.

"So, what is this surprise?" I kissed her slowly, pushing my tongue into her mouth. She opened her mouth to me and leaned in. Pam was wrong to be concerned; this girl loved me.

"Let's go." I led her out to the bar and watched her face as she saw her friends and family. She tried to walk towards them, and I pulled her back to my side.

"No, darling. There will be time for that. We have things to do." I kissed her and felt her heart begin to race. I cued Pam, and she stopped the music.

"So, I'm not good at these kinds of things. I'm just going to come out with it. We want to welcome back our Sheriff, Mr. Eric Northman. He survived a brutal attack that nearly claimed his life." When everyone began clapping, I nodded to acknowledge them and winked at Pam. She handed me the microphone. I looked over at my darling Sookie, and smiled broadly. I hoped that she didn't mind marrying me in a nightclub, but the local churches weren't progressive enough to allow us to hold our ceremony there. Not that I was interested in a church in the first place, but if it would have made her happy, I would have. She stared at me eagerly and I savored the moment.

I want to thank you all for coming this evening, it really means a lot to me and Sookie that you witness…our wedding." At that moment, I wished that I had a camera. Sookie's face was the picture of shock. And for a tense second, I thought she might leave me standing there. I tuned out everyone else in the room and focused on her. I stared into her eyes and asked her to marry me.

"I realized that I didn't get to ask you properly. But I have something I'd like to say first. We are getting married officially because we're in love, Sookie. As hard as I fought to deny it the first years that I knew you, I love you more than anything in this world. I want you as my wife and I don't want to wait another day to make you Sookie Northman. If you still want to marry me, if you will accept our strange, wonderful, improbable existence, marry me this night." And because I knew she would want me to, I knelt in front of her and extended my hand in offering.

She nodded vigorously and pulled me up into her arms. I held her to me and felt her heart pounding in her chest. I was pulled away by Wyatt Morrow as Jason came to her side.

"So you're doing it? That's cool. That's cool. I might be right behind you. You remember Vivian from the Benefit." He brought her forward and I nodded to her.

"Hello, Vivian, good to meet you again. Excuse me, Wyatt, the minister is ready."

I went back to Sookie's side, spun her around and told her we could get married right this moment if she was ready. I only needed her ring back. She slid it off her finger and handed it to me. I saw her looking at Bobby Burnham and he took her by the arm. The two of them had managed to get a ring for me. I kissed Meshra's ring and thought about my mother and how proud she would be that Sookie was going to be wearing it. I also thought about the fifteen-thousand dollars I'd thrown into Lake Ravenwood when I impulsively chucked her ring.

Cheryl Tatum took our hands and joined them as we stood in front of an altar that my employees had hastily assembled. It was beautifully done for two hours worth of work. I shook Bobby's hand and kissed Pam's cheek. They would stand up for me. I wished my brother Marius and I had been on terms where I could have invited him, but as it was, things were weird between my siblings and me.

Tara and Jason stood up for Sookie and the minister blessed our rings. I stared at her. The shape of her eyes, the way her lashes kissed her cheeks when she blinked; the blush of her cheeks when she looked at me. The way her lips felt when I kissed her. I promised her that I would take care of her, that I would always love only her. That I would support her when she needed me. If these were the terms of marriage, then she and I had been married far longer than any ceremony could dictate. When her eyes met mine finally, I saw that she was considering our future together, but there was deep contentment there, and I was the happiest that I'd ever been.

She placed my ring on my left hand, and we kissed. I could have kissed her forever, not caring that everyone was waiting for us to separate so they could congratulate us. She seemed to want to hold on to this minute too, and we stayed that way while I enjoyed the heat of her mouth and the scent of Ravenwood roses emanating from her bouquet.

When she pulled back, I looked down at my ring and she whispered that she loved me. I heard Pam presenting us as Mr. and Mrs. Eric and Sookie Northman. I wondered briefly if Sookie would be keeping her name, but given the fact that she was so traditional, I doubted it. I led her to her friend Tara who was waiting with a glass of champagne. I made my way over to Pam, Wyatt and Bobby. Wyatt clapped me on the back and Pam leaned into me.

"I admit it, I was wrong, she's madly in love with you."

"I saw you crying, Pam." I lifted her chin and wiped mascara from her cheek.

"I'm not heartless, you know. I just wanted it to be the right person for you."

"So, how did I do?"

"Good job, Master Eric." She kissed my hand and I pulled her in for a hug. Pam was the closest to family that I had in America. I missed my family again, and thought about my sister Fallon.

"Will you dance with me later?"

"Try and stop me."

Bobby extended his hand for a shake, which I'd never done before. I stared at him for a second and he pulled his hand back quickly. I grabbed his hand and shook it. Bobby was so gullible.

"Where's your sense of humor, man?"

"Congratulations, Mr. Northman, I hope you two are very happy together."

"Thank you Bobby, I'm holding you personally responsible." He blanched and began to stammer. "Again, I'm kidding. Pam, where did you find this guy?" I smiled and got a glass of champagne for him. He laughed nervously, and I could smell the fine sheen of sweat begin to form on his brow.

I heard a commotion in the parking lot, but assumed that patrons were disappointed that we were closed for a private party. I would go out to glamour them into returning another night if I had to, but it seemed to calm down.

I went to find Sookie so that I could introduce her to Annette, a young vampire friend of Pam's who was quite the photographer. She'd been taking pictures all evening and I wanted to get a portrait of the two of us for Ravenwood. I turned Sookie towards her, and Annette snapped the photo. I saw her smile and knew that we'd given her a stunning shot. The commotion behind us began again, and I thought I smelled the wild piss and body odor that emanates from the tiger. I turned sharply, only to find him there, ever a nuisance. Sookie hadn't quite noticed him yet, but I saw him striding to the podium. When she did see him, she looked horrified.

"I won't keep you, I know you're anxious to get your hands on his money and he's ready to get you home so he can play with his food. I just wanted to say congratulations to the happy couple."

I had a split second to decide what to do. I could tear Quinn's body apart, or I could publicly humiliate him so that we'd not hear from him again. My fangs had run out and I could feel my body going on high alert for battle. I caught a familiar scent and I spun to face Sookie. This was her smell. I didn't know how the tiger had come into contact with her but I didn't like it. I remembered what Jason had said about him following her earlier. It made sense suddenly, she was freshly showered when she came home, and she was upset. I wondered if he made her do something she didn't want to. I wondered if he had threatened her in some way. I thought about her being molested, and suddenly my heart broke for the breach of trust that she'd suffered yet again. I would kill this man if it was my last act on earth.

"Oh, that? Yeah, I figured you'd recognize that smell. Sookie and I met up this afternoon. Did she tell you? By the way, thanks for letting me fuck your wife one last time. She's a hellcat. You've got your hands full."

"Quinn, you lying son of a bitch. I did no such thing."

I had my hand on his throat and Wyatt and Annette pulled me off of him. It would not do me any good to kill the tiger in front of these witnesses. He was de Castro's property and if I didn't pursue proper channels, I'd be stripped of my Area. Thalia, Wyatt and several of my underlings dragged Quinn out. Sookie looked at me and she was genuinely afraid. She came to my side and looked at me pleadingly. I'm ashamed to say that I checked for her tell. She shook her head.

"You've got to know that I didn't…. I swear it, Eric. I swear it. Quinn tried to rape me and I didn't want you to kill him so I didn't tell you,"

At that moment, I didn't care about de Castro or my Area. I would dismember that tiger for attempting to rape her. I didn't understand why men felt it necessary to assert themselves in that way. I thought about Appius and how he'd brutalized me and I felt blood rising in my throat. I pushed past Sookie and rushed out to the parking lot.

I saw tiny Thalia holding on to Quinn for dear life. She was a pain in the ass most of the time, but she was one of my most loyal employees.

"This is the end for you tiger." I walked toward him and he struggled against Wyatt and Annette.

"She gives good head, as I'm sure you know. Oh, maybe you haven't experienced that yet."

He was baiting me, hoping that he would catch me in an infraction that would cause me to lose my Area, my position and possibly my worldly possessions.

"Are you asking for a swift death? I can arrange that."

"She was begging for me. She told me she was playing with you, just playing you for your money."

"You're pushing me, tiger." I thought about the repercussions of killing him and if I could live with the cost. Sookie's honor was important to me, but I also didn't want to appear out of control. I could be goaded, but a Sheriff worth a damn was used to being provoked. I hadn't ever known any Sheriff to have to endure what I'd had to put up with in the form of a spurned suitor habitually trying to take his or her spouse. We were on new ground. Quinn laughed, a crazed laugh tinged with the madness of frustration.

I heard Sookie's car tearing out of the parking lot and I hoped that she would not wreck her car. The rain was coming down in sheets.

"That's okay, vampire. I may not have been able to get into your wife's pants this time, but that whore sister of yours, oh man, that will be easy. All of Europe talks about how tight she is, including your own brother Marius."

I plucked his eye out before he'd finished his sentence; to hell with the consequences. I held his eye up so that he could see it. He screamed in pain and horror. I dropped his eye to the ground. It rolled slightly and came to a stop, iris up. There were bits of dirt clinging to the bloodied sides. I made sure he could see me as I raised the heel of my shoe and stamped on it. He broke free from Annette and Wyatt, and lunged towards me. I threw myself at him and tore at his throat. He shoved me into the wall, and I launched forward, grabbing his jeans. I told him that I would castrate him for attempting to rape my wife. He broke free of my grasp and I saw Jason out of the corner of my eye begin to pursue him through the parking lot. I took to the air but was weighed down by my wet clothing. I threw off my jacket and pulled my hair back. I would catch and destroy him, and it would make me very happy.


	8. Chapter 8

Even with the rain, I could make out the shapes of Jason and Quinn in the woods behind Fangtasia. I hadn't ever seen Jason in his panther form. His fur was sleek in the bright moonlight and I marveled at his physique as he tore through underbrush and branches. The forest gave way to swamp land and I knew that we would soon have Quinn trapped. The area funneled into drainage land, and there was no way out but through the alligator infested swamp. He was fast, and the rain slowed me down somewhat, but I would not let that deter me.

We pursued him for nearly an hour before we backed him into a drainage culvert. I clawed at him, tearing flesh from bone. Jason sank his teeth into Quinn's thigh. I was proud of my brother-in-law. A man approached us from the hillside and began yelling to Quinn. Quinn was begging for help as a child does. The unfortunate man attempted to stake me, so I liberated his head and spine. I was thankful for my mother's blood in that moment, because it solidified for the tiger exactly what I was capable of. He held his hands up in defeat and ran into the culvert. Jason made to take up chase again, but I stilled him and allowed the tiger to live with his shame.

I flew Jason back to Fangtasia and announced to Pam that there was to be a bounty placed on Quinn's head. I was done fending him off and I knew that either someone would bring him to me and I could kill him secretly, or he would die trying to resist being captured. I didn't care what de Castro thought. The tiger had brought my wife and sister into a private matter between gentlemen. For him to imply that Fallon and Marius had somehow had sex disgusted me to no end.

Pam came to me with blood. I'd fed from Quinn's ill-fated friend and had no appetite. I took a shower and pulled on a pair of jeans and a turtleneck. Jason and Pam were waiting in my office when I came out.

"Would you oversee closing down the club, I have to get to Bon Temps, Sookie will be at her grandmother's home."

"I can, but I don't advise you to go there. She is probably humiliated beyond words. I talked to her so-called friends and they seem to think that she slept with Quinn. That shifty bastard Sam is actually gloating at the thought that Sookie has cuckolded you."

"I don't much care what he thinks about Sookie and me. She is hurting and I must go to her, bring her home. What time is it?" Jason looked at his watch.

"Near Midnight."

"I could get to Bon Temps and home before dawn. She has to know that I believe her."

"Honey, send her brother to take care of her, but don't go over there. She needs to be alone just for a little bit. Give her some time to think. She knows that you love her. She's embarrassed and you're not exactly in the right frame of mind for talking."

"Eric, I know Sookie better than anybody, she knows you love her. But she will just turn you away and shut down. Pam is right, just give her until tomorrow. I can head over there and make sure she's safe."

"But she needs me, I don't want to let her down again. I mean it, Pam, she needs to know that I'm here for her and that I'm not angry with her. I'm going to her." I stood, but Pam quickly sped to my side.

"Master Eric, as a woman, I'm saying to you to give her some space. This is the beginning of your relationship, not the end."

"Sookie is—She will decide that I am upset with her, and she will leave me." I sat in my chair, defeated.

"Jason, will you excuse us for a minute?"

"Sure thing. Pam, I'll wait for you outside."

I noticed the glance shared between the two of them and realized that they were interested in each other. I wondered if Pam had initiated the relationship, or if it had been Jason. His stock was going up with me with each passing hour. He closed the door and Pam knelt beside me.

"Eric, I know that you can feel Sookie's pain, I know that you're hurting from the embarrassment too. And partly you're scared that she really may have slept with Quinn, but you told me yourself that she loves you. I know we don't really discuss feelings much, but now that you're in love and somewhat happy, I want it to continue. You're going to go over there, vulnerable and insecure. You're going to subtly ask her if she did sleep with him and she will think you don't trust her. You're going to make things worse. Let Jason go to her. Let Jason tell her how much you wanted to be here. She will come home to you."

"Pam, promise me, I can't lose her again. I can't."

"You won't. I promise. I'll talk to her if I have to, just give her some space."

"Okay." I felt Pam kiss the top of my head and I was weary. I wished that Sookie had given me a chance to talk with her. All I could think about was going home. I walked out to the bar and got a drink of blood. I sensed Sam Merlotte behind me and I turned slowly. I really wasn't in the mood for him. Jason and Pam had their heads together as they talked behind the bar.

"Eric, can I talk to you for minute?"

"If you must."

"I just wanted to offer my support and offer to contact the other shifters to help you with Quinn and the local pack leaders if you'd like."

"Sookie's honor is my responsibility, but I appreciate the gesture."

"She doesn't deserve to be treated this way by either Quinn, or you. I hope that you will treat her better than she's been treated by the men in her life."

"You don't know the first thing about me. And if you did know anything about Sookie, you would know that she would never have agreed to marry me if she didn't love me. We've had two weddings. I would say that she's pretty committed to me, wouldn't you? Now, if you'll excuse me." I pushed past him and went out to my car. I hadn't envisioned my honeymoon beginning this way.

I drove to Ravenwood. I sat in our bedroom and looked at my wife's things on her vanity. The room still smelled of her delicate perfume. I picked up the phone to call her, but Pam was right. I did want to be sure that she hadn't slept with Quinn. I knew that I would find a way to ask her and she would be angry with me for not believing her. The truth was, I did believe her, but I was being insecure. I had hours yet before dawn, so I took out my photo albums and put on some music.

Quinn had touched a nerve with me when he'd brought up Marius and Fallon. There had been rumors for years that Marius and Fallon had had a sexual relationship when they were younger, but I didn't believe any of it. I just wished the rumors would die out. Fallon had gotten a bit of a reputation as being sexually liberal as well as giving her blood to anyone who asked. Marius and I spent years trying to repair her reputation. I would talk to Meshra about it when we got to Paris.

I looked at my family and put their pictures in my wallet. I hated that having Sookie's blood and being in love had made me so incredibly emotional. It wasn't right or proper for a vampire to feel this way. The same blood bond that had brought us closer, caused these ridiculous emotional stirrings. I was as sensitive as I had been when I was a young vampire. I'd spent centuries shielding myself from emotion, reaction; sensitivity. I would not see myself set back by nine hundred years over a few pints of blood.

I saw the sun at the horizon and hoped that Sookie would be home by the time I awoke for the evening.

I sensed Sookie nearby but thought that I was dreaming. Then I heard her voice.

"Eric, I'm home. Honey, I missed you last night. I know you tried to come to me, and I'm glad that you tried, but I did need the time to be alone. I don't know if you can hear me, but I can't wait for you to get up. I need you. I need you to hold me. Things got out of hand last night, and I just need us to reconnect. I love you. I mean it, I love you Eric. I'm so, so sorry that I didn't tell you about Quinn. I had no way to know that he would do this to us." I heard her pause, and I waited to hear what else she had to say. "I'll come find you at sundown if you can hear me. Sleep well, my love."

I was overjoyed to hear that she was home and that she was waiting for me. I could sleep easily knowing that she was waiting.

When it was time for me to rise, I rushed out of my sleeping space and threw the bedroom door open. She was coming up the stairs towards me. I stepped into the hall and caught her in my arms as she threw herself at me. I lifted her into the air and kissed her.

"I heard you, my darling. I wasn't sleeping very soundly because I've been worried sick about you. Come here." I pulled her back into our bedroom. I needed to make love to her immediately and I didn't want to wait another second. I pulled her robe off and threw her on the bed. She pulled at the loops of my jeans to get them off. She tasted of salt water and sunshine. I kissed her down her chest, stomach and inner thighs. She moaned deeply as I slipped my tongue into her. She loved my mouth on her. She screamed my name over and over as she bucked her hips beneath me. I held her as she came, then I sank my fangs into her thigh and drank from her. She came again; then again as I entered her. She dug her fingernails into my spine and I kissed her.

"Sookie, do that again." She raked her fingers across my back and I moaned her name. "God, Sookie, you feel so good. So fucking good."

"Right there?" Is that what you want?"

She moved her hips with mine, and I pulled her up against my chest. I bit her neck and she leaned against me until I came inside her.

"That was amazing. I mean it. That was absolutely amazing. You are the best lover a girl could ever ask for."

"I'm glad you think so. I want to make you happy, Angel." I stroked her hair, kissed her ear. She snoozed quietly in my arms and I watched her sleeping. When she opened her eyes, she looked up at me and kissed me.

"You don't think I believed for one second that you willingly had sex with Quinn?"

"I didn't have sex with him He attacked me, Eric. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to kill him. I didn't want to have his murder on my hands."

"I suspect that it was Quinn that drained me."

"What? How? Are you sure?" She seemed incredulous, but the hatred I'd seen in him the previous evening proved to me that he had it in him.

"I got a call from someone saying that you had been taken from Merlotte's. Ever since this thing with the fairies, it's as if I'm just waiting for the worst, that someone will take you from me. I couldn't feel anything from you at all. I was on my way to Bon Temps when my car was struck and pushed into a ravine. I was dazed momentarily and I saw someone in all black clothing approach me with a silver net. My left leg was pinned and I couldn't move. I was dazed from the wreck, so I wasn't sure what was happening right away. I suspected him when you told me that he approached you at the mall it was too coincidental that he would be there. His life will be miserable. Every supernatural creature in North America and maybe the world will be looking for him. I could take my revenge on him in my own way for draining me if he indeed did it. But for what he has done to you….Well, let's just say that I have put a bounty on his head for attacking and embarrassing you."

"Jason told me what happened. He also told me about the bounty. How much is it? I want to know if I could add 1200 dollars to it."

"We can talk about that some other time."

"No, Eric! If he is responsible for draining you, and what he did to me."

"I don't like to talk about money, Sookie." I really hated talking about money actually. Any time I'd ever revealed anything about my actual net worth, it changed our relationship. She looked resolute, so I decided that I would only tell her about my cash assets as opposed to my net worth.

"I guess you'll find out soon enough. Two million."

"Two million dollars?"

"Not two million pesos." I laughed at her, she was going to die when she found out how much money I really had. "Yes, one for each of us, or two for you if he didn't drain me, but I think it was him."

"Eric, I can't let you part with that kind of money on my behalf. That's way too much. Not to be indelicate or anything, but can you afford that?"

"This is why I don't like to talk about money." I sat up and she sat up next to me.

"Baby, just tell me something. Are you really rich? I feel awful for asking, but I have cost you a lot of money lately, and I just –I can't feel good about this bounty if I think that you're going to have to sell some stuff off, or burn your furniture instead of firewood. I mean as lovely as the draperies on this bed are, I could make a few dresses, maybe work some extra shifts at Merlotte's."

"Oh, Lover. You are funny. I'll tell you what, you just trust that money will never be an issue for either of us and let me handle it."

"Oh, now you're the one being funny. I can't do that and if you expect me to, then we've got a problem. I didn't come into this with a whole lot except my pride and I won't be handing that over any time soon."

"Sookie, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I don't want you to think about what you're bringing to our relationship financially. This isn't a contest. This isn't about inheritance, so don't worry about it."

"I know you say that, but I'm no sponge. I can and will earn my way through the world."

I hated that she was being so stubborn about working. I would give anything to have her find something else to occupy her time. I understood that she didn't want to be bored while I slept, but it would be less embarrassing if my wife realized that we were quite wealthy. "You are so damned stubborn, woman! Fine! Have it your way. Work if you like, but I have about 50 million dollars." I laughed as her face went through shock, joy and shock again.

"Oh, See….was that so hard?"

"You should see your face right now."

"That's a lot."

She would ask the question that people always asked when they realized that I am rich.

"What are you doing running a vampire bar in Shreveport, Louisiana?"

I shrugged because I really didn't have an answer that satisfied most people. "It makes me happy. And when it stops making me happy, I'll do something else. It really isn't that complicated."

"Well, okay then."

"So, Mrs. Northman…."

"Yes, Mr. Northman?" I was happy to see her laughing. She was so beautiful.

"Can we let this money thing go? Just use what you need if it makes you uncomfortable. You can't spend it all, so don't worry. I can get you your own charge card, but I want to share my things with you. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't. I need to eat, and I have things to tell you so we should probably get dressed. Would you consider letting me take you on a trip?"

"I would love a trip more than I can say right now."

"Do you have a passport, my love?'

"Yes, actually. Bill suggested that I get one a few years ago. I tucked it away in a drawer and forgot about it. Should I go back to Bon Temps and get it?'

"No, I can send Bobby to retrieve it tomorrow, or Friday. Would Paris be acceptable? I have something that I must do."

"Are you serious? Would Paris be acceptable? Oh, Eric, I would love to go to Paris with you. Or anywhere for that matter." She pulled my head toward her neck. I'd only had a few sips from her thigh and neck. I was hungry again and she tasted so good, but I didn't want her to think that I only wanted to feed from her.

"Sookie, baby, I can feed elsewhere if you'd like."

"Eric, it's our honeymoon, don't be coy."

I couldn't help myself. I licked my lips slowly and began kissing her neck. I bit in, and she melted into my arms. I laid her down against the pillows. I loved drinking from her. It reminded me of hunting in my village. I was a young man, covered in animal skins. It was nearly always cold. I was a skillful hunter and a good provider for my children. I felt Sookie in my mind again and I let her feel how happy I was. She looked at me and I knew what she was going to say.

"Eric, I want to tell you something that I've been keeping secret."

I felt my fangs retracting, I had often wondered if she would ever reveal to me that she has seen my thoughts. I wondered if they were images or actual words.

"No, Honey, it's not bad. Not really. It's just that, sometimes, I get glimmers of your thoughts. You're the only vampire that I've gotten flashes from. Well, there was one other time, but he's dead now. Anyway, I just find it interesting. As if you and I were meant to be together and I thought you'd like to know."

I licked her neck slowly, surprised that I wanted to make love to her again so quickly. I lay with her in my arms wondering about the logistics of us being married and keeping the location of my daytime resting place from her. It hardly seemed fair to keep it from her, but I'd been betrayed before. I wore the right fang of the vampire who'd betrayed me. I took a deep breath and prepared myself. If things went wrong, I did have two other spots within Ravenwood that I could use. "My love, as long as we're sharing secrets, I have something to tell you. I've never, ever, ever trusted a human as much as I'm trusting you. Will you keep my confidence?"

"Eric, I swear, I would rather die than tell anyone what you're about to tell me if it's that important."

I studied her face, the set of her jaw, the smoothness of her forehead. She meant exactly what she'd said. I could trust this woman with my eternal soul. It still surprised me that I had found this with a young human girl. "Come, I want to show you something." I pulled her up and out of our bed. We stood facing it and she seemed puzzled. I knelt down to the left side and pulled her down with me. She seemed to be studying the cabinets, not realizing that these were false doors. I had a skilled craftsman create several cavities under the beds in Ravenwood for visiting vampires. The beds looked grand and particularly regal, as if I'd harbored an affectation for all things royal. But they held two very comfortably.

I climbed down into it as she realized what I was revealing to her. She seemed amazed and honored that I'd shared such a thing. I turned the light on, wishing I'd tidied up a little before bringing her in. I had open books strewn along the sides, and a pair of boxers that I'd forgotten about. I tucked those under the pillow and hoped that she hadn't noticed. Her eyes fell on her silk scarf and I felt her eyes on me.

"This is where I'll be, right underneath you. That's why I can hear you. You can talk to me anytime you want. I had to show you because I didn't know how I could keep it from you."

"Can I stay with you sometime?"

I shook my head, surprised that she would ever consider such a thing. Most humans are horribly claustrophobic and the thought of a coffin, even one as beautiful as mine, terrified them.

"That's not something you would want. It's dark, it's…."

"No, I want to be able to be with you sometimes. Don't fight me, you know I'll get my way eventually, so why go through this?"

I laughed at her, she was right. I would give in to her because I always did. I wanted her to want to be with me. I wanted her to come stay with me sometimes. I had longed for that when I'd taken her scarf. I had a horrible bout of amnesia after the witch Hallow cursed me. I didn't know a soul in the world except for her and she took me in. She loved me, nurtured me and I know that she fell in love with some part of me that she hadn't known possible. I looked down at her, She was the epitome of everything that I had ever hoped for in a companion, and here we were in the beginning of our lives together, sharing our most intimate details; her blood coursing through me, my blood, making her my spectacular equal. I was overwhelmed by my feelings of love, trust and desire. Sookie Northman. My wife.

"You little minx. Fine, whatever you'd like." I kissed her and pushed my feelings of contentment so that she would know that she made me very happy. She snatched her scarf from me.

"Surely my scent has worn off of this by now."

She had no idea how wrong she was. I could and would be able to detect her scent for years to come. "I hope you don't mind. When I stayed with you, I kept it with me because you were my only link to the world. You were always on my mind, and I wasn't sure why. It made me feel better when I was not myself, and I found it in my jeans pocket after Hallow was killed. I didn't know how to give it back to you."

"I don't want you to give it back. The idea that I've meant so much to you is touching. I wish you had told me how you felt a long time ago. You might have saved me some grief and a few nights of heartache."

I hadn't realized that she had suffered nearly as much as I when we'd been apart. I wished I had that time back. I wished I had those months to love her and be loved by her. I led her back up to our bed and we lay together under the sheets.

"I didn't know what to make of the fact that I was in love with a human. No offense, but what if you suddenly found yourself in love with--" She frowned at me. "I'm only saying that it took a lot for me to come around to see that you are not entirely human, and even if you were, I don't know that I could resist you." I rushed to change the subject. "Angel, I want to ask you, did I hear your brother here? I hope so. I would really like it if he could stay with us for a few weeks, until this situation blows over."

"Yes, you did hear Jason. I hope you don't mind. I invited him to stay because I didn't want to be alone during the day. Would you please show us around? We've been waiting for you to wake up all day."

"Show you around? This is your house! You go wherever you'd like. Don't shake that pretty little head at me. You didn't have to wait for me."

"I put him in the guest bedroom two doors down, I hope that room isn't set aside for anyone else."

"Who else would be here? The staff have their own houses down the lane."

"Well, I don't know."

"So, if I am smelling correctly, you have been to my greenhouse and found my newest project."

"Oh my God, that's right, the roses. I meant to ask you about that. What is that scent? The red and pink roses?" They smell familiar, yet, I can't make out what I'm smelling."

"Really? I thought it would be obvious to you of all people."

"It smells kind of like cake batter, and vanilla ice cream and I don't know, like an outdoor birthday party."

"Like sunshine, and cake and ice cream and candy sprinkles?"

"Yeah, that's what it is."

"It's funny that you can't recognize the smell. It's what you smell like to me." And though I'd never ingested cakes and ice cream, I was still able to detect fine notes of fruits and plants that could be grown in the soil alongside my roses that would lend themselves to giving my roses subtle scent notes. Anton and I worked very hard to achieve just the right balance. He was the most skilled gardener that I'd ever employed.

"Oh, Eric. That's so sweet."

"I'm calling them Stackhouse roses, in honor of my beautiful wife. I love you, Sookie." I kissed her, enjoying the way that she flicked her little tongue over my fangs when we kissed. She seemed to like them almost as much as I. I could sense that in some respects she was turning, and if we weren't careful, she'd have a pair of her own. She would be an incredible vampire. I wouldn't push it on her, because she didn't want it, but I would certainly make a case for it. We could spend eternity together. And since she would have been human before we got together, there wouldn't be any of the toxic power exchanges that ruin so many vampire-maker relationships.

"So, Jason and I rode your horses this afternoon."

"Really? Did you ride Avalon, He's a majestic animal isn't he?" I smiled because I knew there was no way in Hell she'd ridden him. He was nearly too tall for me.

"Are you serious? He's as tall as you are. There's no way I could ride that beast."

"Hey, he's royalty. You be respectful." She hit me with all the force of a fly.

"You were playing with me. That horse is monstrous."

"Which horse did you end up riding?" I kissed the tip of her nose and she responded by kissing my chin. I enjoyed lazing with her and extending our lovemaking to several hours.

"I rode Lois, he's a great horse, but I don't know why you'd ever name a male horse Lois."

"His name is not Lois. God, Brady knows better. His name is Loshad. It's horse in Russian. I couldn't come up with a name for him and I just call him horse. Where the hell he came up with Lois is beyond me. Did Jason ride Arkady, or Thor?"

"Neither actually. He rode Sadie. Brady said that Sadie was the best horse for him, but I don't know, she seemed to hate having anyone on her back. Poor Jason was almost thrown like four times."

"Satie, hunh? No one rides that miserable bitch. She's a terrible horse. I should have shot her a long time ago."

"How can you say that about an animal?"

"Yeah, Satie with a T, not a D. is short for Satan, as in spawn of. She has thrown nearly every person who's bothered to climb on; She gets meaner every year that passes. She kicks the other horses when they go to pasture. She has bitten me every time I've gone near her. I can't stand that awful nag."

"Jason rode her for over an hour. And yeah, she put him through it, but not like what you're describing."

"That's interesting, Sookie. No one has been able to ride her for at least six years."

I thought about how Jason handled Quinn the night before and how courageous he'd been in defending his sister. I knew that the two of them had a contentious relationship, but I didn't know what it stemmed from. I stared up at the stars above our heads. I would take Sookie to Sweden and show her the city where my village had been. I had so much to show her. If I couldn't turn her though, we wouldn't have much time at all.

I heard Jason in the kitchen telling Natalia what he'd like for dinner. It would be good for her to have her brother with her. "Jason fought hard for you last night, you would have been proud of him."

"I am proud of him. He's been super supportive of me. I hope the two of you can get to know each other a little better over the next few nights."

"I would like that." I remembered that I needed to call Bobby so I got up to shower. Sookie went with me into the shower, and when we finished, I handed her a pair of jeans and t-shirt. She smiled when I kissed the nape of her neck as I brushed her hair.

I would have to get used to the smell of human food in the house. I could smell nearly every food item that Natalia had purchased for Sookie. It would be a challenge for me to block out these competing smells, much like I imagined it was hard for Sookie to drown out the voices of all the humans she encountered in a day.

We sat in the kitchen, a room I had only been in a handful of times. Sookie's excitement about Paris grew, and I found myself becoming excited to show her the playground of my youth. She told me that she'd always dreamed of going to Paris, but never knew how she'd be able to afford it. I smiled and placed my hand on hers. She kept talking, but I was thinking about how she would never worry about money as long as I existed.

I told her about some of the parties that I'd attended. I left out details about the orgies that Marius had been famous for. Sweet Odin, Marius and I would entertain ladies for a solid week, stopping only to sleep during the day. There was blood for the asking, and French whores were the most adventurous. Marius and I became favorites of King Louis the XIV, because women followed us everywhere we went. We laughed that we never had to glamour women because they fell so readily at our feet. We were so tall compared to everyone else. We were viewed as twin gods.

Scores of times we would lay in beds the size of whole rooms, six or seven women strewn about, naked and writhing. We would get the women intoxicated and entertain them. I would levitate, claiming to have been a powerful magician. Marius, who couldn't fly, could generate electricity that would make him iridescent. When he'd use it on women, their orgasms would last for three or four minutes, sending them into wild paroxysms. Women all over Paris begged Marius to touch them, to "donnez-moi la touché. Soon, the story was so convoluted that women were begging me for the touch, but I didn't possess that skill. I glamoured those women and became more skillful with my tongue instead. They didn't seem to mind.

In the vampire community, Marius, Fallon and I were treated as royalty. The human population was thriving, and thus the vampire population increased as well. Meshra was sought out for her skills as a huntress, having survived for so very long. She was ancient then. And as her children, we benefited from her fame.

Sookie began washing her dishes so I dried them and began putting them away. Jason heard us laughing and came into the kitchen. I was glad to see their interaction, it gave me better insight into their relationship. As I listened to Jason's stories about Sookie as a young woman, it occurred to me that he was slightly jealous of his sister; perhaps her telepathic skills. I knew from Sookie that Jason was always seen as the more attractive of the two, but I couldn't for the life of me understand how a male's beauty could be compared to that of a female. I hated that the people around her had been mean spirited enough to make her insecure about such a thing. I could only hope that those people were fanning themselves in hell as we spoke.

We talked about Jason riding Satie, which I still could not believe. I offered the horse to him, which he politely declined. But he would be doing me a favor if he did take her, so I insisted.

After his dinner, we toured Ravenwood. I enjoyed seeing my house as if for the very first time. Sookie was more and more impressed with each room that we entered. But she grew wistful suddenly, and I wondered if she was longing for the familiar walls and furnishings of her Bon Temps house. I worried that I was overwhelming her with my eagerness to make her a part of my life. I'd uprooted her fairly quickly and she would need time to adjust. It would be best for us to leave for Paris sooner, rather than later, as it would put us both on new ground for a start together. She looked at my stand of pear trees and I felt her throat seize as if she was moved to tears.

"Lover, is something wrong?"

"Not at all, baby. I'm just –I'm okay. This is overwhelming, that's all."

"We can stop here. I realize that you must be exhausted and I don't want you upset. Jason, if you will excuse us, Sookie and I are retiring for the evening."

"Yeah, I'm going to head into town, stop by Fangtasia. Pam invited me out for a drink."

"Really? I know you don't need me to tell you this, but Pam is--"

"I think I can handle myself, but thanks for the warning. Sookie, you feeling okay, you look a little green around the gills."

"Uh-hunh, I've just been through a lot in the last few weeks and I could use some rest. My car keys and house keys are hanging on the rack in the foyer."

I retrieved the keys for him, testing out how fast I had become since I'd ingested Meshra's blood. I actually surprised myself for the first time in centuries. It would feel good to get out into the forest and run. Jason hadn't even realized that I was gone.

"I don't put the alarm on at night since I'm awake, so don't worry about coming in." I put my hand on his shoulder and winked to let him know that Sookie and I would be busy and would not be able to let him in. I was not surprised that Sookie didn't seem to catch the exchange between Jason and me. It was a sort of code that men inherently understood. Jason nodded, kissed her cheek and left.

I led her to our bedroom, holding her hand to steady her. She seemed deep in thought. "I feel as if there is something that you'd like to discuss with me, Angel."

We walked into our adjoining suite and she sat on the couch. I sat beside her.

"Something is happening to me, isn't it?"

She'd come to realize that Meshra's blood was changing her too. I wondered about the extent of the side effects and how Sookie might react. I worried that she would regret giving me her blood and saving my life if things would change drastically for her. The only examples that I had were Marius and Fallon, but they were vampire when they'd ingested Meshra's blood, so that was hardly a good comparison.

"I was going to say something to you about that, but yes. You have had a tremendous amount of our blood and I sense that you are not only sampling me anymore but that you may actually need it. I sense that you are feeling weak without it, and I'm going to have to talk to Mahesh-Ra when we see her in Paris."

"Baby, I don't want to be turned, but I bite you when we are making love because I love making you happy. I don't want you to think that I'm not into it."

I kissed her hand and smiled down at her. "You never have to worry that I don't think you're into it. You are the most enthusiastic of anyone that I have _ever_ been with. But what concerns me is if you cross the line that leaves you in a limbo state of having vampiric attributes without actually being vampire. I'm concerned that you may reach a point where you cannot have babies, or tolerate the sun, but that you won't have to sleep at night or during the day. I just don't know enough about how this works in someone who is part fairy. I do know that I don't want to see you regret your decision to be with me."

"No, no, Eric, I will never regret it. Never. I told you before, I don't know if I want kids, honey."

"I would not blame you if you did. I actually want that for you. And honestly, I'd want it for me. Sookie, I'm not ever going to turn you, which means that I will lose you someday. If you did have a child, I would have a part of you that belongs to me."

"That's so sad. Eric, I never thought of it that way." She paused for a minute and stared at my hands. I knew what she was thinking as surely as if I was a telepath. I wanted her to know that it didn't matter to me that a child of hers would not be a child of mine. I was old enough to let that pettiness go. But it would be an ache for her if she did love me as much as she said. She would look at the child and wish with all of her heart and might that it had my eyes, or the curve of my mouth. As it grew older, she would long to say, "He has his father's temperament." There was folklore in vampire culture that talked about instances where a vampire had conceived a child, and even then, the partner was magical in some respect. I didn't put any stock into the stories, but the stories were there. Supposedly five vampires had been born that way. I wondered if it was at all remotely possible. But I would never bring it up to her. I didn't want to raise false hopes.

"I wouldn't be able to have your child."

"That is not so important to me. I would only ask that if you start having those feelings, that you not be afraid to discuss it with me."

"I don't think I want to bring a child into a world where I am constantly looking over my shoulder---"

"That's not going to happen. I'm going to take care of that as best I can. I promise. Just talk to me, okay."

"I promise, Love."

We spent the rest of the evening playing chess. Sookie proved to be quite exceptional at it, and by the third drubbing, I hauled her over the table and onto my lap. Her eyes went wide as I placed a few playful swats on her bottom. She'd done a little dance when she beat me, and I spanked her for it. I made love to her there on the floor and she led me to the shower afterwards. She'd clawed my back nearly to ribbons and I was grateful that my skin heals as quickly as it does. I felt her licking at my scratches and wondered about her transition, as I'd come to think of it.

"Sookie, I want to test something." I bit into her wrist, only intending to test her clotting abilities at first, but when her blood touched my tongue, I helped myself to a deep drink. I felt myself getting aroused again, but I needed that to wait.

I handed her wrist back to her and directed her to lick. My bite marks began to fade almost immediately. She was developing coagulant, but not enough to close the wounds. I took her wrist back and licked them closed. I watched her eyes roll up in ecstasy. I loved that she enjoyed our blood exchanges as much as she did. She stood on tip-toe to kiss my bloodied mouth. She licked the edges of my lips and my chin, and as she moaned, I grew excited. I slammed her into the glass and made love to her again.

"I love you, Sookie."

"Mmm-hmm." Her eyes were heavy as I carried her to our bed.

"I love you." I stroked her wet hair away from her face and pulled the blankets up around her.

"I love you too."

She was nearly incoherent with sleep. I kissed her ear and stroked her arm as she began to snore softly.

"I love you." I wanted to tell her every day if she'd let me. I trusted her with my heart, and she loved me too.

I watched her sleeping in our bed as I stepped into jeans and a t-shirt. Pam would be over after the bar closed. It was time for me to sign the payroll slips and alcohol requisitions. Anton met me on the stairs.

"Master Eric, may I show you some plans for the garden? I would like to put wisteria on the arbor and the cottages. Would that be all right?"

"I would love that. Let's go into my office. By the way, we'll be in Paris, would you send me some photos after you get that planted?"

"Yes, sir. Will you be gone long?"

"Yes, actually. We'll be gone for just about a month. If you and Natalia would like to take some time off, that would be fine. Please tell Carl, Oliver and Brady that I told them to take some time off too. Brady needs to arrange care for the horses. Otherwise, you're all welcome to return at the end of June.

I felt Sookie stirring in her sleep and returned to our bedroom. I'd only been gone for half an hour, but she was whimpering. I sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to stroke her hair. She was tossing and turning violently. I considered waking her, but she began begging someone to stop hurting her in her sleep. She moaned so woefully that I felt the space where my heart had been lurch. She cried out again, begging Lochlan to please stop cutting her. She pleaded with Neave to please stop biting her. She pulled the sheets around her and kicked at them. Tears streamed down her face. I hadn't had any idea that she was so tormented in her dreams. I feared it was because she didn't know what had happened to her. When she said, "Eric, please." I felt tears coming. When she cried out, "If you loved me, you would help me. Why don't you love me? I love you." I had to turn away from her and decide if I could tell her the truth about why I didn't come to her assistance. I heard her behind me. "No, Eric. Don't do this, why won't you save me?" She screamed and sat up. I heard her startled, choking gasps and I lowered my head. She wrapped herself around me but I couldn't move.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since I got home. Will you hold me?"

I couldn't face her. She thought that I was capable of hurting her. She equated my failure to save her with siding with her captors. I was humiliated. I should have insisted to Niall that he send someone else to help Hunter. I never should have sent Bill Compton. Sookie believed him to be her hero. She climbed over me and onto the floor in front of me. She was surprised to find me crying.

"Oh, Love—What's going on?"

"I can't protect you. I want these things to never have happened to you and I can't make them go away. I stayed away from you because I could feel that you were becoming angrier and angrier with me for not saving you. You think that I've let you down and I had no way to prove otherwise."

"Eric, tell me what is going on. You tell me now. I need to know now."

"I can't tell you. I wanted to. I wished that you would let it go and that you would somehow just forget about it, but ----"

"No! You need to tell me I can't live like this anymore. You said you had a reason for not coming, so you tell me now or we're done."

And here she was threatening to leave me again. I would tell her to end her torment, but I feared that it would only add to her feelings of being a bother. My wife had been made to feel as if her very presence was an inconvenience, and I hated that she couldn't see that she was surrounded by sick, jealous people. I didn't want to cry, but she'd impacted me so much with her fairy laced blood, that I couldn't control my emotions as I would have liked.

"No matter how badly I may want to help you, in the daytime, I am powerless….I am struggling with the idea that you may need me and I won't be able to help you. This is your greatest fear, and you think that I let you down….I never wanted to tell you this…. but when the fairies had you…. When they….I tried to come to you. I did hear you, Sookie. I could feel everything you were enduring and my heart was breaking for you….I sent Bill to rescue you….because….Because Niall asked me to go to Hunter….Breandan sent a fairy after him…." She was as surprised as I'd imagined that she would be. She knelt in front of me and stared up with a shocked expression on her face.

'What? My God, what happened? Is he okay?"

"In time…. He will recover….he is strong, like you…. Bill wouldn't go to Hunter. He said that he wouldn't risk his life for any other human but you, so I went to him knowing that I could get Bill to help you. Believe me, I wanted to save you myself. I would have killed a thousand fairies to bring you home. I'm so sorry."

"How did they find him? How did they know?"

I stood up and walked to the fireplace. It was going to crush her to realize that she had led the fairies to Hunter.

"Eric, answer me. How did they…..Oh, God." I looked into her eyes because I knew that she would be crushed.

"I led them to him."

I nodded slowly as it sank in. She sat down on the floor.

"I didn't want to tell you this, I didn't want….this. He'll be all right. He's with Niall now."

"Where is his father, Remy?"

I didn't have the heart to say out loud that yet another of her family members was dead. I just shook my head. "I'm sorry, Sookie. Hunter barely made it, his father did everything he could."

"This is all my fault. It's all my fault."

I lifted her into my arms and held her close to me. She didn't deserve this guilt. I was relieved that she knew the truth finally, and I had to admit that I was glad that she knew that I would have come to her aid if not for her cousin's tiny child.

"No….this is the fault of the fairies, my love." She cried for so long and so hard that I wished I hadn't told her. She kept moaning over and over again that it was her fault. I tried my best to assure her that the fairies were bent on destroying her family, and that there wouldn't have been anything that she could have done. I rocked her on the floor in my arms. Her face was red and puffy, and her eyelashes clumped together from her tears. She buried her face into my chest and I felt my shirt sticking to me. She had such a big heart. If she and I were going to continue sharing blood, I would have to get her to be a little less emotional. She was making me feel things I didn't want to feel.

I kissed her forehead as her whimpering tapered off. She asked me to stay with her and to protect her for the rest of her life. I swore to her on my life that I would never let anything bad happen to her ever again. She seemed comforted by this, and she drifted to sleep in my arms. I loved that I could comfort her so. I loved that she felt protected and safe with me. She was so tiny in my arms. I thought about the locket that I'd gotten for her. It held a very tiny vial with three drops of my blood inside. I hoped that she would not be averse to wearing my blood around her neck. She inhaled deeply and drifted to sleep. I laid her down on our bed and kissed her sweet mouth.

I went downstairs to meet with Pam and finish up our Fangtasia business. As I descended the stairs, I heard Jason coming in. He'd removed his shoes so as to not make noise. I smiled because it was such a human gesture. He thought he'd be disturbing us but he'd forgotten that his night was my day.

"Hello young Stackhouse."

"Shit! You scared me. Hey, Eric. Sorry, I didn't want to bother you guys. Sookie sleepin'?"

"Yes, she wasn't feeling great. Is Pam with you? We had business this evening."

"No, no, she said that she'd take care of the requisitions and the payroll and that you should be enjoying your honeymoon. She and I had a great time tonight."  
"That's good to hear. Pam has needed someone to….play with." I smiled and he smiled back. "Can I get you a beer?" I gestured towards the kitchen.

"Sure. I'm not quite ready to go to bed, you want to talk for a little while?"

"I'd like that Jason, I'd like that a lot." We walked into the kitchen and I opened a beer for him and went into the pantry. Natalia had stocked up on the foods that she knew young people liked to eat. I took down a bag of potato chips and a bag of pretzels and poured a generous portion of each into a bowl. I set the bowl in front of Jason and pretended that I didn't notice that he was watching me cautiously. I knew that the best way to defuse the situation was to confront it head on. I would praise his skills and take the focus off of myself. Jason had no reason to fear me. I leaned against the sink as he sat at the island.

"You know, Jason, I was most impressed by your prowess as a panther. I believe that you might have destroyed that wretched beast if I hadn't stopped you."

"Why did you stop me? I could have murdered that guy for what he did to Sookie."

"Sometimes, it's best to let your prey believe that it has escaped. It is so much sweeter to hunt when the predator surprises the prey. I will get John Quinn back, do not doubt it."

"What's it like now that you can't legally hunt? I mean, it wasn't legal before, but now that everyone knows about vamps, how do you go about satisfying that urge."

"I have to tell you, it's very difficult to mainstream. I miss the days of skulking around the French Quarter and laying waste to poor mid-shipmen who would stumble out of bars at three, four in the morning."

"Wow. To think that that was your life for a thousand years and now you have to drink blood substitute." He wiped his hands on his jeans and swallowed a gulp of beer. I warmed a pint of Royalty and sipped it slowly.

"Yes, hardly fair." I didn't want to reveal to him that many of the older vampires still hunted and that in spite of human law, they refused to see humans as anything other than talking cattle. " At one time, vampires and supernaturals outnumbered humans by ten to one. The world was populated by fairies, vampires, were animals, angels, demons and a few other mystical creatures that have either been killed off, or have gone into hiding. You should have seen the world then. Humans were superstitious because there was so much to be afraid of. People laugh at those early humans and say it was the dark ages, but there was a lot to be afraid of. It was dangerous during the day, but the night could be utterly horrific. All manner of creatures roamed the woods at night. You might have enjoyed it. Panthers were revered for their skills as hunters."

He smiled broadly and I had a fleeting thought that he might make an excellent vampire. There was something about the Stackhouses that made them exceptional predators.

I crossed the room to the refrigerator, took out another beer and placed it before him. He twisted the top off and nodded his appreciation.

"Will you and Sook be going on a trip for your honeymoon?"

"She knows we're going to Paris, but she doesn't know we're leaving later tonight after I've slept. Don't tell her, it's a surprise. We'll be gone a month. Will you be okay with her gone that long?"

"She's your responsibility now." He laughed. "Sure, she'll love that. She's always wanted to see Paris." He stood and carried his bowl to the sink. I stepped aside and let him wash it.

"You're welcome to stay here at Ravenwood if you would like."

"Well, that may be overstaying my welcome a little, but thanks for offering."

"No one will be here, stay and enjoy the house. I would like it if I knew that someone was getting enjoyment out of the pools and the horses."

"You said pools. There's another pool?"

"Yes, the indoor one. There's another pool downstairs. You didn't know that? You guys really didn't look around. There's a bowling alley and a movie theatre downstairs as well."

"Are you serious? Eric, may I live with you forever? I'll do whatever you want." We laughed and I had a minute of happiness with him as I'd had with my own brother. He was quiet for a few moments. I waited while he framed his question. With certain humans, you could almost see thought bubbles over their heads.

"Pardon me if I don't know what is customary, but Pam is like your daughter or your ex-girlfriend, right?" He ran his hand through his hair as if he was very nervous and unsure what to say.

"You could say both statements are somewhat true, although, I've never treated Pam as my child, and girlfriend isn't exactly what we were to each other. She calls me her maker or Master Eric."

"The reason I'm asking is, I thought maybe I should ask for permission to date her if I needed it from you. What I'm trying to say is, would it be all right if I dated Pam? And should I be asking her this?"

I regarded him for a moment trying to gauge the seriousness of his request. He didn't strike me as the fangbanger type, but Pam had been through emotional hell with Marius and I didn't want another forlorn vampire on my hands. He seemed to genuinely like her, and he was harmless enough that Pam could dispatch with him if she needed to. I reasoned that since I'd freed Pam, it was really up to her.

"Jason, you honor me by asking. But Pam is a free woman. I have released her several times. If she would like to begin a relationship with you, then by all means, I grant my permission. I think it would be great for Pam to spend time with someone who finds her interesting."

"Oh, I find her more than interesting."

I felt my eyebrow shoot up, reflexively.

"I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that she's smart and beautiful, real sexy too. I guess I'd say that she's out of my league, but she thinks I'm funny."

"You must not toy with her. If you are remotely considering sport fucking her, I will come after you, you realize this, right?"

"Uh, yes, yes sir. I wouldn't ever consider what you just said."

"Just so we're clear." I made sure that there was just enough edge in my voice that Jason knew that I was serious. But I didn't want my brother-in-law shrinking away from me every time I entered the room. I put my arm around his shoulder and I felt him relax.

"Would you consider showing me how you managed to tame Satie long enough to ride her?"

"That would be so much fun right now."

After my ride with Jason, I headed upstairs to take a shower and go to bed for the evening. I could hear Sookie snoring softly in the darkness. I didn't need the light to see so I crossed the bedroom with the lights off.

I turned the shower on and let the water heat up. As I closed the glass door and the steam built up, I could make out the imprint of Sookie's bottom on the glass where I'd made love to her earlier. Natalia would have a good laugh at that.

The water felt good on my skin. I turned the hot on fully and got myself very warm. I'd switched shampoos to the brand that Sookie uses after I'd lived with her. It made me feel close to her. I looked over my body thinking of the thousands, perhaps several hundred thousands of times that I'd done it before. I was paler than most vampires because of my age, but since I'd had Meshra's blood, I was not quite as pale as I'd been before. I was changing and any change at all was welcome after so many years of being exactly the same. I'd noticed that the texture of my hair was changing too. I rubbed conditioner into my hair and found that I almost didn't need it. My hair was silkier and more flaxen, as was Sookie's.

I thought of my mother and her strange abilities. It wasn't until I was older and more observant that I noticed that my mother was unlike any vampire I'd ever encountered. She was deeply concerned with taking care of her children. Most makers, and even surrogate makers, which was rare in and of itself, only concerned themselves with creating a nest that was safe and near good hunting. Meshra had made a home for us. She'd placed an emphasis on each of us becoming educated, cultured and skillful hunters. She nurtured us, and showered us with affection. In return, we cared for her and each other in ways that other European nests began to emulate. It occurred to me suddenly that my mother had never actually turned anyone, and perhaps she couldn't. When I was young, Marius had told me that she was some sort of angelic being who'd gotten trapped in the female form of a human. But technically speaking, Meshra had been genderless when she'd been herself; a spirit being concerned with mankind's salvation. She could create fire from nothing at all, she could fly quickly and she knew things that others could not know. I didn't know if she'd lost these attributes when she'd become vampire, or if she suppressed them, but I'd never seen her demonstrate her fire skills.

I stepped out of the bathroom and began to dry off. The sun was coming up over the edge of the horizon. I would give damn near anything to be able to view the sun just once more. And though that was an expression, I didn't entirely mean it. I would never trade my life with Sookie to see the sun. She sighed in her sleep when I thought of her and I realized that I was influencing her moods even in her sleep. I enjoyed this bond that we shared. I regretted that we would never be able to strengthen that bond with a child. I wished that I could give her my child. I wished deeply that I would be able to see her belly swell and see her nursing.

It was oddly comforting to walk around the house and hear and feel my human family stirring with their inhalations and exhalations; their scents mingling with the things that I've grown used to. Laying next to Sookie and feeling as if I was being warmed by a fire. Detecting subtle changes in her heart beat when she changed position. I sat on the edge of the bed and watched her as I dried my hair. She rolled towards me and her eyes opened momentarily. She wasn't awake, but we made eye contact and I looked down at her. Her lips curved up into a slight smile and she closed her eyes again. I leaned forward, kissed her and said goodnight.

As I pulled the door closed to my sleeping space, I thought of her sleeping above me and made a note to myself to have the windows treated so that I could stay with her instead of crawling into a hole in the floor. Now that I had someone who could watch out for me and keep me safe, I could sleep above and not fear for my life. I thought to myself about the irony of a vampire needing to be protected from the scary things in the daytime. I couldn't fall asleep right away, so I lay there in the darkness listening to my wife breathing, listening to my brother-in-law doing unholy things to himself probably with thoughts of Pam. I heard my horses stirring in the early morning fog. I heard the frogs slowing their mating for the night. I heard the universe gasp and the sigh of life and death itself as beings all over the world came and went. It was rare that I allowed these sounds and thoughts in as they were overwhelming. I gave myself to it and within minutes, I was asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

I knew that it was too early for me to be awake, but I felt a shaft of light enter my space and it woke me slightly. I detected movement nearby but couldn't quite make out what I was hearing. I groaned, exhausted and concerned that my space was being violated. It took me a full minute to realize that Sookie wouldn't allow anything to happen to me here, and her smell was suddenly stronger. When the door closed, I relaxed again. I heard her whispering to me.

"I'm sorry, baby. I don't mean to disturb you. I just wanted to be near you for a few minutes." I was very happy suddenly. She snuggled in close to me and kissed me on my cheek. She lay there quietly and I wondered what she was thinking. I wondered what it was like for her laying next to me as I appeared completely lifeless and dead, no respiration, no heartbeat, no rolling over. I only kept a blanket with me as a habit, but I never used it. I felt her shivering beside me and I hoped that she could see the blanket and would cover herself and stay with me a while longer. She lay there for nearly fifteen minutes, running her hand across my chest. I felt her kissing my mouth and I began to wake more fully. There wasn't room to make love here, but if she continued, I would have to invent something new.

"I love you so much, Eric. Sleep well, baby." She began to crawl away from me but I didn't want her to go. I rolled over and tried unsuccessfully to open my eyes.

"Thanks for coming to see me, Angel." I heard the door close behind her and I was out again.

I stirred slowly at first, unsure if it was time to rise or not, it seemed earlier than usual. I checked my clock and noticed that I was awake about half an hour earlier than I'd been the previous night. I climbed out of my sleeping space and heard Sookie in the bathroom. I could also smell blood and for a minute, I was afraid that something bad had happened to her.

As I entered the bath, I saw that she was finishing a glass of Royalty.

"Well….I don't know if I should be concerned or happy."

"I was curious."

She behaved as a small child does when it has been caught being naughty. I didn't want her to feel chastised, so I let it go.  
"Are you keeping that all to yourself, or are you sharing/"

"I'm sharing, but you have to get in if you want some."

I slid my pajama pants off and stepped into the water. She handed me a glass and I drank it down. I kissed her and she leaned into my arms. "I love that you came to see me. That was brave of you."

"I needed to be near you for just a few more minutes." She leaned in and kissed me again. "I have something to show you tonight."

I pushed her hair back. Her hair was getting long and thick, but mostly, I enjoyed watching the artery in her neck pulsating.

"Really? I'm looking forward to it."

"And, I moved the last of my things out of the Bon Temps house. I'm all moved in. Hope you don't mind, we are officially cohabitating as man and wife."

"Yes, It's official then, we're a proper couple. All I have left is to introduce you to my family." I intentionally turned my back to her then. I hadn't ever mentioned my family to her before because it brought up so many issues. I saw her go through a range of emotions and settle on surprise.

"What do you mean, family?"

"I mean my family, the vampires that I consider my family, anyway. When I was about 7 years vampire, my maker, Appius' maker was destroyed. He entrusted my care to his nest mate Mahesh-Ra. In human terms, they had been lovers and were a couple off and on over the centuries. She taught me hunting skills beyond what he could teach me, because she was much older than he. We thought that he would return within a year or two, but he never did. She adopted me as her child so that I would not be lost. Did Bill ever tell you what happens to a vampire who is separated from his or her maker before he is old enough to fend for himself? They don't usually survive the first decade. Mahesh-Ra became my mother. She cared for me, created a home for me and I was, and am loyal to her. I consider her my maker now because Appius abandoned me. Her children became my brother and sister. We lived together as a family for about 500 years. Her son Marius and her daughter Fallon went to live in Rome, I went to London.

Meshra, which is what we call her, and I played a game of chance before I left. I won a vial of her blood to be used to help me recover if I was ever near death, and as I've told you, the one condition was that it had to be mixed with the blood of someone who loves me. She is a powerful, magical being Sookie. She was immortal before she was turned and she was the wife of an Egyptian god. She and I made a side bet about which century it would be that someone would love me, and I had to promise that I would bring the young lady to meet my mother. That young lady is you, Lover."

"I would be honored to meet your mother, Eric. I can't wait to get to Paris."

"We are leaving tonight."

"No way! I haven't had a chance to pack or anything."

"Sookie, I have people who can do that for you. Relax. Just enjoy being with me."

"Will you come see what Jason and I made for you?"

"Of course." I got out of the water and wrapped up in a towel. I handed one to Sookie and we sat in our sitting room. She fumbled with the controls as if she knew how to turn the TV on, but I powered the system on and motioned for her to sit down beside me. She laid her head on my shoulder as the video started. Jason appeared onscreen.

"Hi, Eric, it's me. Sookie had this wonderful idea to show you what Ravenwood looks like during the daytime since you've never seen it. So we put this together for you. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you two have fun in Paris. Surprise Sookie, you're leaving tonight, so I'll stop by and see you before you guys leave. I love you, Little Bit. Take care of her, Eric. She's all I got."

I heard music begin, a song I was unfamiliar with, but it was a cheerful enough tune. I watched as Sookie ran through the grass, laughing and twirling in the sunshine. There were images of my horses, my beautiful Avalon charging through the clover. There was sunlight dappled on my pear trees and there were images of her gazing up at the sky beneath them. I could almost smell the warm summer air as she lay on her back with the wind lifting a few errant strands of her hair. Suddenly, she was eating one of my pears and my heart filled. There was pear juice and pulp running down her chin and she wiped the bits onto her sleeve. It was just as the image in my dream. I stood and went to the screen and touched it as if she had lifted this scene right from my mind. I realized I was crying at the enormity of what she and Jason had done for me.

"Sookie, you have no idea what you've done for me. This is the most wonderful gift I have ever received." She waved and jumped into the pool. Suddenly, Jason was in the pool beside her and they looked like little children playing in the water.

She took my hand and I let her. I couldn't believe how she'd captured the imagery of my dreams so easily.

"I'm so much better than all right. I chose Ravenwood because the layout and the meadows reminded me of my village. My village is a bustling city now and I'll never have that back. Ravenwood is as close as I'll ever have. I've never seen it during the day of course, but no one has ever cared enough about me to do this. It never occurred to me to have someone film it for me. Thank you, Angel, thank you so very much."

She straddled my waist after we'd watched the video for a second time. She began kissing my cheeks and licking the blood that had run down them. I was struck by a desperate need to taste her. I looked at her in the way that she has come to understand that means I need her blood, and she nodded her acquiescence. I kissed her neck slowly, dragging my tongue up and down from her ear to her clavicle. She braced herself as I sank my teeth in quickly. I pulled a deep draught of her blood into my mouth and swirled the thick warm sweetness on my tongue. I could feel her heartbeat as it pulsed the warm fluids into my eager mouth. She was taking supplements, but I didn't mind. I took a long drink and tilted her chin down to press my lips to hers. I spilled her own blood into her mouth and she and I took turns licking at each other's mouths until we were cleaned of blood. I needed to turn her more than anything. She would love being a vampire.

I could hear Natalia and Bobby in the next room packing our things. Sookie laid her head on my shoulder and I leaned back against the couch, holding her and running my hand up and down her spine. These were the moments that I valued more than any other; holding her, feeling her blood inside me. She made cooing sounds as if she was very content and I knew that all that we'd suffered through had been worth it to be together like this.

After an hour or so, I picked her up and carried her to the dressing room where we dressed for our trip. I told her that it would be chilly on board, which had never bothered me, but I knew that it would bother her. She asked if we would be flying on Anubis, which was her only experience with a vampire-centric airline and I assured her that I would not be risking our lives with their second rate security teams. Meshra had sworn by a company that had been providing charter to celebrities for decades, but they were new to vampire charter. I booked a Challenger 604 and one flight attendant considering Sookie and Bobby were the only two who needed meals prepared.

Sookie dressed casually in jeans and a sweater set. I slid into my most comfortable blue jeans a t-shirt and a leather jacket. Sookie waggled her eyebrows approvingly as I did a runway spin for her. I stood in the full-length mirror and she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. I was reminded of the night I escorted her to an orgy and she giggled when I told her I still had the spandex tights.

Jason came in and hugged Sookie goodbye. I promised him that I would take good care of her if he would take good care of Avalon, Satie, Arkady and Thor. He commented that most people had dogs, but I reminded him that I am far from most people. He nodded in agreement.

I watched Sookie check her bag for her passport for the third time. She seemed to be nervous, excited and fearful and I steadied myself to calm her nerves. I was fearful for reasons wholly unrelated to traveling. This homecoming would be a challenge for me given the circumstance under which I'd left Paris. I hoped that Marius would keep his distance, but I feared that Meshra would attempt to bring us together by forcing us to spend time together. One of her strategies for maintaining peace in our family was always to pretend as if nothing had ever happened. Fallon had always been the fulcrum to our disputes and I would try to avoid arguing with either of them. I had moved on, despite what Marius thought.

Oliver brought the limousine to the front doors, and Bobby assisted him with loading our things. I knew that Sookie and Bobby had smoothed things over, but she was concerned about him traveling with us on our honeymoon. I assured her that he would remain out of the way; I needed him to take care of things that I couldn't take care of in the daytime. And whether she wanted to admit it or not, someone had tried to kill me, and may have been after her as well. Bobby had special skills that allowed him to masquerade as an assistant, but he'd been personal security to a number of dignitaries in his time. Eventually, Sookie would come to understand his value.

"You are excited, Lover. That makes me happy."

"Are you kidding me? My face hurts from smiling all night, this is something I've always wanted but didn't know how I would ever achieve. Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. If I'd known you'd be this happy, I would have used this as a lure to get you to be with me, instead of relying on my charm and good looks."

"I can't say I wouldn't have taken you up on it."

I watched as the airline's ground crew loaded my coffin. Two of the four young men stared at Sookie as she marveled at the size of the airplane. I gave them a withering glance and they immediately ceased ogling her. I heard one of the loaders ask if the vampire would be joining us later and I realized that he didn't realize that I am vampire. I showed him my fangs after Sookie boarded the plane and he nodded respectfully. I would send a comment card to help these humans improve their services. But based on Meshra's glowing praise, she had charmed them with her beauty and they'd fallen over themselves to attend to her. She'd taken their fawning as excellent customer service. I laughed at her naïveté.

Sookie sat next to me in a butter soft leather seat. The interior was new, and smelled of glues, paints and solvents. I could smell Jet A as they drove the fuel truck away from the plane. Bobby took his seat towards the front and did his best to become invisible, for which I paid him handsomely. I'd had him make arrangements to ensure that the catered meals on the flight were real French cuisine so that Sookie would be exposed to good food before we arrived instead of her seeking out McDonald's at the terminal as she awaited our transportation. I could always taste when her diet consisted of mostly fried foods, high fructose corn syrups and assorted petro-chemical leftovers from Styrofoam boxes and containers.

As we began our ascent, Sookie clutched my thigh. She laughed when I told her that worst case, I could always fly us to safety. We looked at Bobby, the flight attendant and the two pilots at the front of the plane and laughed that we would survive if something should happen, but they would not. She was struck by her conscience and decided to say a little prayer that nothing would happen to the plane.

The flight attendant approached, and I could tell that Sookie was trying to give the woman her mental privacy. I could tell by her expression that she was as frightened of me as she could be. I was probably her first. She introduced herself as Margie and she offered us baked brie en croûte and champagne. I deferred to Sookie to explain that I wouldn't be needing either.

"Margie, is this your first time being around a vampire?" Sookie seemed to be begging me to ease this poor woman's mind. I leaned forward a little to make eye contact with her.

"Is it that obvious? I'm sorry I'm such a nervous wreck. It's just that you hear so much on TV."

I laid my hand on her arm and held her gaze even as she jumped.

"Margie, darling. You have nothing to fear from me. This will be one of the most enjoyable flights you've ever had. You will relax and anticipate all of our needs just like any passengers you've handled. You will remember us as exceptionally polite, and you will tell all your co-workers that the Northmans were wonderful to you. Now, since my wife and I are newlyweds, we would enjoy a bit of privacy. So, you won't come back to check on us unless we call you. Okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Northman. Thank you. Enjoy your evening." I watched her walk straight to the cockpit and close the door behind her. Sookie was thoroughly impressed.

"You are the master of the glamour, Sir. I was relaxing for her and it doesn't even work on me."

"You get good at it. Humans are simple creatures, they want four things: shelter, food, warmth and love. Meet those needs to any degree and they'll do whatever you like."

"I wish we were a little more complicated so that it wouldn't feel so, I don't know. It just feels like you know what we're going to do before we do sometimes."

"I've just seen humanity stay exactly the same for so long, think about it Sookie. How are your needs any different than a woman a thousand years ago?"

"Well, I guess need wise, they aren't any different. But I would never want to live without things like tampons, shampoo and deodorant. It must have been awful for the women of your tribe."

"It wasn't, surprisingly. Everyone smelled bad, that's how you identified each other." She laughed, and when she did, her hair fell into her eyes. I pushed it back behind her ear, a move that was becoming a habit for me as I tried to enjoy as much of her in her brief life as I could. "I'm serious. Here comes Lagon, breath of fire, or his wife Petta that smelled of bear. I wish you could have been there with me. I wish you would be with me always." The moment I said it, I'd regretted what I'd said. I'd promised her that I would never pressure her to become immortal. I hoped that she didn't take it that way, as much as I might want her to stay with me. She didn't say anything. I wished I could take it back. But then, I didn't. She would understand that as someone who loved her very much, of course I would want to have her with me.

I thought about how my family would receive the news that I'd married a human girl, and one so young. There would be surprise that I was returning to France so soon after Marius and I had had our most recent disagreement.

"There are things that you need to know about my family. I don't want you to worry, they'll accept you because you are mine, but my brother, Marius, he's a bit of a rogue." She looked at me disbelievingly. ""He will attempt to taste you against your will, so do not be afraid to be assertive, you will not be hurting my feelings….or his. And then there's my sister Fallon. She is a handful of emotional trouble. She's high strung, kind of frail and in addition to that, she has an eating disorder, sort of."

"A what?"

"She thinks that she can only drink type A blood. One of her special skills is that she can detect a person's blood type by scent and she regularly complains that if she doesn't get type A blood, she gets sick. For centuries she's been eating cows, cats, dogs, ducks. One year, it was sheep. Next it was goats. She is trying to be shocking and outrageous. We try not to indulge her because it is a ploy for attention, but she is a bit of a baby about it." I didn't want to downplay my sister's so-called condition, if indeed she was ill, but so much was made of it, I had a hard time believing there was any merit to it.

"How old are Marius and Fallon both in vampire and human years?"

"Marius is about 225 years older than me but he was 25 when he was turned and Fallon is about 200 years older than me. She was 16 when she was turned, and she was a brat. As old as she is, she still behaves as a young child in many ways. Marius and I have often wondered if she's altogether right in the head." I thought about Marius. He hadn't always been mean to me. It seemed that right after his father died, things between us changed. Sometimes it seemed that he would be nice to me, as if he was trying to get past the distance between us. Other times, he couldn't stand to see the sight of me.

Part of me hoped that he would stay away and let me introduce Sookie to Meshra. Another part of me hoped that he would come, just so we could get past this.

"My brother and I don't always get along. Marius is very competitive with me so don't be surprised if he and I end up having a shouting match. I love my brother, but he is a gigantic asshole most of the time like he has a chip on his shoulder. Fallon is a sweet, sweet girl, but she'll throw a tantrum if Meshra is paying too much attention to you."

"How are you guys any different than any other family?"

"I'm just giving you a heads up."

"What does Marius look like, or Fallon? Do you have any pictures?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I've been thinking a lot about them lately…." I took a photo from my wallet and handed it to her. I loved this picture of my siblings and me. It was taken in the early seventies but you'd never know it by the way we were dressed. Before vampires were out, Meshra had taught us to dress as plainly as possible to avoid scrutiny. We were happier then.

I saw Sookie looking at Marius. He and I really could pass for twins and often did. I wondered if my appearance had anything to do with Appius choosing to turn me when he did. I knew that he and Meshra had been nest mates and lovers for many, many years and I wondered if I had been meant as a gift to her.

She looked at Fallon. My sister and I were very close. She'd taught me to glamour humans without damaging their mental faculties. She was also responsible for my love of music. Fallon had picked up the cello when Marius, Meshra and she lived in Vienna for three years. She shared that love with me.

I handed Sookie the only picture of Meshra that I had. My mother was beautiful in the photograph, but even more so in person. It was not hard to see why she'd been worshipped when she'd become trapped in the body of a human female. She radiated loveliness. And it was not uncommon for her to be mistaken for Audrey Hepburn, especially during the peak of Hepburn's fame.

"Your family is a walking Gap ad."

"Yeah, we're kind of a good looking bunch." I called for Margie and had her pour me a glass of Royalty. I could tell from her expression that she found it somewhat disturbing, so I pushed the suggestion into her mind that she was pouring a glass of tomato juice for me. I'd gotten distracted by Sookie and pushed her a little too far, because she brought a stalk of celery in the glass. Sookie laughed and I handed the celery to her.

"Way to focus, Northman."

"You distract me, little girl." I kissed her cheek and sipped at the glass.

"Tell me what you're most excited to see." I watched as she rubbed lotion on her hands. I was glad that she'd switched to unscented lotion. I loved her warm cake smell and I hated when it was covered by the petroleum distillates in her lotion. To humans, lotion smelled perfectly pleasant. But to a vampire, lotion stinks like an oil well.

"I can't wait to walk beside the river Seine. My Gran told me that if you make a wish with your true love beside the river, it has to come true."

"Really? What sorts of things do you wish for?"

"Well, for one thing, I wish we could be like this forever. And…"

I could tell that she was thinking long and hard. She didn't know that the whole world was open to her. And even with those possibilities, she didn't mention things like cars, boats and jewelry. So I would give them to her because she would appreciate them and me.

"I would wish that…."

"What, Angel?"

"I would wish that my remaining family would be able to see me more often. I hate that my brother and I are alone."

"You're not alone, Lover. You have me, Meshra, Marius, Fallon and Pam. We could also adopt children if you're interested."

"I just feel so reliant on you for everything."

"You're supposed to rely on me. I'm your husband. If I'm doing my job, I should be providing for your every need. You are royalty now. If you chose, you'd never have to lift a finger again. Meshra is the equivalent of your queen of England. That elevates your status in the vampire world if I chose to declare my relationship with Meshra. We're kind of a big deal."

"There's no way in hell that I'm going to go around calling myself a princess. I don't know that I'd ever be comfortable with that."

"I'm just trying to prepare you for what you can expect from the European vampire community. They're not at all like the American vampires. In fact, there are certain protocols that you are expected to adhere to. Depending upon the situation, you may have vampires nod to you, or bow. Do not return the bow, only nod in acknowledgement. If you are unsure, nod deeply but never bow. There isn't a vampire family with higher positioning than ours, so they should be bowing to you, not the other way around. I know that you cannot tell the age of vampires by looking yet, so if you have a vampire make eye contact with you, assume that vampire is someone who knows me or my family. If they are breaching protocol, I will try to correct them before you even notice it."

"Hmmm. Well, I'm looking forward to meeting these new and different vamps."

"I know that I should have explained my life to you a little better. I can tell that you're a little overwhelmed."

"I just didn't know. Suddenly you're a prince, your mom is a queen. I'm a princess. It just feels….weird."

"I didn't say that. I said it's the equivalent of. There's just not a better way of explaining it. We have a hierarchy and my family just happens to be at the top of it. You'll get used to it."

"I'll try not to embarrass you." She poured water into a cup and sipped it slowly.

"I've never, ever worried that you would embarrass me. I love you as you are. I'm not asking you to change. I just don't want you to be uncomfortable by the treatment that you're going to receive. In America, we're practically nobodies. In Europe, we're royalty. It will just be different than what you've experienced before."

"Okay." She was quiet for a minute, and then she added, "You know, I knew life with you was going to be different, but…I didn't see it this way."

"I'm sorry if you're disappointed."

"No, no, I'm not disappointed. You're right, I'm overwhelmed. We have a lot of money, we have a lot of cars, a huge house and now vampires are going to be bowing to me. It's just scary to take it all in in just a few days."

"I'll be right there beside you. We can take things slowly if you'd like. We can rent a tiny room until you get bored with that, then we can get a two bedroom house, then when you realize that being rich is no different than what you were doing before, you'll begin to enjoy it." I smiled to let her know that I was kidding. "I know it's a huge transition for you. I didn't have this money right away so I had time to adjust, but I promise you, you'll be okay." She nodded and bit her lip. I hoped that I hadn't given her too much to think about.

"I have to get to bed soon."

" I would love to be able to stay with you. Is there room?"

"I'm afraid not, my sweet girl. But I appreciate that you'd like to stay with me. Look out over the horizon."

"It's so pink out there."

"I'll see you when we get there." I stood up and walked back to my coffin. I hoped that she would not be bothered by seeing me go to sleep.

"Can I wait with you until you fall asleep?"

"If you will not think that it's weird." I lifted the lid to my coffin and climbed in. "If this gets weird for you, I'll understand."

"Is it weird for you that I can hear people's thoughts?"

"Not weird. I wish I could hear the thoughts of others."

"No, you don't. I always know what people really think of me. People are incredibly dishonest most of the time."

"I offered to kill anyone who treated you badly." I closed my eyes and she leaned over me, kissing me while I relaxed. I kissed her back as long as I could, but I was so tired. I heard her say that she loved me as she closed the lid.

I could hear her rustling around in the cabin as I slipped more deeply into sleep. I heard her place her palm on top of my coffin.

"Goodnight, my love. See you in France."

I pressed my hand to where I thought hers might be, whispered that I loved her, and fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

I felt my coffin being moved and realized that we must be at Meshra's. I checked my watch in the dark. Sunset in Paris was at 9:30. It was 9: 22. I could probably risk the seven minutes if I got inside fairly quickly.

I undid the latch and stepped out. I was so excited to show her Paris that I grabbed Sookie and kissed her. She would love the way that Europeans lived compared to Southern Americans. Southern people were one thing I'd never gotten used to about living in America. I would always be European in my heart. "You are going to love this, Angel." I took her hand and ran up the stairs to Meshra's apartment. She'd purchased two apartments just after the war and knocked down the adjoining wall and made a very large apartment in a building next to an Abbey. It was peaceful for the most part, and the moonlight that streamed into the apartment every night was gorgeous. The last time I'd left this place, I'd packed my things in a rush and stormed out. I had been visiting from Ravenwood for six months, but Marius's comment about me being raped drove me away. I tried not to think about that.

"We don't want the elevator, it's exceedingly slow and creaks mercilessly."

I rang the bell wondering who Meshra had found to replace Alice, her aging housekeeper.

"Allo? Qui-est la?"

"S'il vous-plait, dites-vous Meshra qu'Eric c'est ici." Sookie stared at me. She seemed genuinely impressed every time I spoke another language. At one time, I was fluent in nearly thirty languages. Now, I tended to only speak about thirteen or fourteen. The door opened and the younger voice that I'd heard stepped away from the door. My mother rushed out and threw her arms around me.

"Eric, Eric, Eric. My darling son, come in, come in. Oh, who is this?'

"Meshra, this is my wife, Sookie. Sookie, this is my mother, Mahesh-Ra, also known as Meshra." She hugged me again and then she hugged Sookie and kissed her on both cheeks. Her eyes were darkening and I knew that they were misting with tears, but I don't think Sookie noticed. I knew that I'd hurt her deeply when I left last time, and I would try to make up for it. She was a good mother, but she didn't know about the depth of the rift between Marius and me.

"Please come in, I had no idea that you were coming to town. Eric, why didn't you call me?"

She welcomed us into the apartment and I realized that the only thing that had changed was that my mother had amassed a lot more books. She must have been in the midst of a research project. She always got like this when she was working on a book. She'd written thirty books on the subject of ancient Egypt. She was a fixture on the lecture circuit now that vampires were out. She worked very hard to correct and dispute widely held misconceptions about Egypt. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed her.

"I wanted to surprise you, mother. You are so very hard to surprise."

"I can't believe that you are here. How long has it been now 20, 25 years?"

"Yes, about that. Sookie, please have a seat here." I moved a stack of books and saw my mother nod her approval. I sat down next to Sookie and took her hand. She seemed fearful and I didn't want her to worry. My mother was not in the least bit intimidating.

"So, you have married. And she smells of Fae, am I correct? I also sense my own blood coursing through her veins as well as yours. You have had trouble n'est-ce pas?

"Oui, maman. Someone tried to drain me, but Sookie saved me." I found myself lapsing into French as soon as she spoke it to me. It was as if I'd never left.

" I see that you have given her my ring. I hope you love it as much as I did, Sookie. So, you love my son? Surely you must if he is still here. Did he tell you about the probable side effects of having my blood? Of course he did. May I offer you something to drink? Lisette? Lisette? A drink for Sookie, please. Eric, I have a lovely Spanish girl with the most wonderful blood line I have tasted in a long time."

I noticed that my mother was nervous and I winked at her to tell her to calm down. She settled back into her chair and I felt Sookie squeezing my hand. I squeezed back to let her know that everything was okay.

"I will pass, Meshra."

She took my hand in hers and looked at me closely. It was as if she was making sure that I was all right. Our deal was that I could only use her blood in an emergency. I sensed her worry and looked into her eyes so that she would know that I was intact.

"So, tell me how this came about?"

I realized that she was talking about my relationship with Sookie. "That is a long story mother, and I'm here to discuss business first."

"Is this about the one million dollars that you owe me?"

We both looked at Sookie as she spit her tea into her cup. I hadn't told her how much I owed Meshra in the bet. Meshra smiled at her and Sookie dabbed at her mouth with her napkin.

"Yes, of course. We had a bet. I'm not going to back out of a deal that I have with you. I owe you my life and I wouldn't be with my darling wife if not for you."

"I had no idea when I gave you that blood that you would be using it. I really thought that I'd never get to see the day that you'd become my child fully. I'm so happy that you are finally my true child."

"I would have sooner if not for the side effects. Can we discuss that at some point?"

"Of course, but I don't really know what to say except that depending upon when you used it, you should be seeing changes in your physical nature. I noticed that your hair is different. Has her hair always been identical to yours?"

"Yes, but more so since we had your blood. I also noticed that I'm not as pale."  
"I'd noticed that as well."

"I suppose you'd like your money wired or would you prefer a check that you can gaze upon victoriously?"

"I would never gloat. And I'm not going to take your money. I only made that bet with you so that you would keep an open mind about marrying someone. You were so averse to the idea, and I don't want you to miss out on happiness. I loved my husband so very much. I know that you will enjoy being married too."

"So, Sookie. I suppose that Eric has told you all about his brother Marius and his sister, Fallon?"

"He has, and I'm looking forward to meeting them both."

"You won't have long to wait, they are both living nearby and we'd agreed to attend a dinner at Lord Malbec's house. Won't you please join us?"

I couldn't believe my mother was still entertaining Lord Malbec. He was, of course, much younger than she , but he appeared to be in his sixties. I wanted Meshra to date someone that appeared her own age.

"You have got to be kidding me, Meshra, why are you guys still hanging out with that guy? He's a boorish old codger."

"He's good to us, he does certain favors for me and I—reciprocate. So, Eric, your child, Pam, is she here in Paris?"

"No, she is looking after my business ventures back home. Sookie, can we get anything else for you? You must be horribly bored listening to us catch up."

"No, baby, I'm fine. You guys catch up. Do you have a restroom?" I stood up to show Sookie where the restroom was if I could remember. It was a room that we were very, very rarely in. "Meshra, we're going to go clean up before dinner." I took her elbow and led her down the hall. "It's kind of tricky, the door sticks because we've never used it." Each bedroom had an attached bathroom, something that was unusual for French apartments. Meshra insisted that we each have our own room, as well as bathroom. My room was off the dining room down the hall. The apartment itself was five bedrooms, and was considered huge by French standards.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you need to drink, baby."

"I can have _Royalty_." The thought of another glass of tepid blood displeased me somewhat, but Sookie seemed a little peaked and needed to regain some of her strength.

"Are you sure you don't want a sip, I don't mind."

"I'm sure, darling." I ran water through my hair as she used the bathroom and washed up.

I took her down the hall to my old bedroom and noticed that it hadn't changed a bit since I'd left it last. The last book I was reading here, _Critique of Pure Reason_ by Immanuel Kant was still open on the chaise. I pulled the draperies open and cracked the casement window so that the light May breeze would pass through our room. I noticed Sookie looking around at my things. I was not surprised that Meshra had Lisette dust and keep my room tidy. She knew to expect her children at any moment. That was the nature of our lives.

Sookie and I sat on the edge of my bed and she opened her collar to me. I licked my lips because I really, really wanted to drink from her. She pulled me in close towards her neck. I didn't want her to become weak.

"Baby, should I be taking more iron supplements or something?"

"It's just as easy for you to stay hydrated and eat lots of protein." I pressed my mouth to her neck. I wanted to bite, but I also knew that prolonging it made it more enjoyable. I licked the area just below her ear and she told me that she wanted me to drink from her. When she moaned into my ear, I couldn't resist her. I bit down and moaned myself. I took a deep drink, then drank some more. She relaxed as I laid her down on the bed. I could very easily make love to her and not think twice about the fact that my mother was waiting for us in the next room. Sookie had a satisfied look on her face, as if she'd just had an orgasm. I hovered over her, alternately drinking from, and kissing her.

We showered afterwards, and I dressed quickly, sitting down at the vanity table to put on my watch. I fastened Corey's fang around my neck. Sookie lifted it and looked at it closely.

"That's really cool. Is it from a lion?"

I smiled remembering the night that I'd taken Corey's tooth. She was an impulsive, mean spirited vampire who was in love with my best vampire friend, Guillaume Montrachet. He and I lived together, and she wanted him all to herself. She'd led some humans to my daytime resting place, but she hadn't counted on the fact that I'd chosen to spend the night with a human woman I'd been having sex with.

Sophia Townsend had allowed me to create a sleeping space in her dressing room. I'd told her that I had a rare skin disorder that did not permit me to be out during the daytime. She was not very bright, but she was a willing sex partner and donor. I returned the next evening to find that humans had burned my loft to the ground. I immediately went looking for Corey. I found her cowering under a bridge and I took her fang instead of killing her to prove to her that I didn't have to kill her to ruin her.

"No, love. That is the right fang of a vampire who betrayed me. I wear it to remind myself that I can be merciful when it is warranted. Her name was Corey and she tried to expose my resting place when I lived in London. I took her fang. I could have killed her then and there but I chose to be merciful. She died later that year, but it had nothing to do with her lost tooth."

Sookie took out her brush and began brushing my hair. It was very soothing to have her grooming me this way. I would have to have her do this more often. She kissed the top of my head and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"You smell so damned good. How did I ever get so lucky?"

"That, my love is what I ask myself every night." I took her hand and kissed it. We stayed like that for a while, staring at each other in the mirror. I could feel that she was very happy. I held her arms close to my chest. "You are happy, Lover?"

"Oh yes. Happier than I've ever been." She pulled away and dressed quickly. I watched her slip into a sundress and heels. I moved so that she could put her makeup on. She didn't need it, but she wanted to wear a bit of powder and lipstick. She fastened her diamond earrings onto each ear. She was so beautiful.

"You ready?"

"Yeah, this will be amazing."

"I'm glad you think so."

I escorted her to the door so that we could meet Meshra. Meshra stood at the door in a celery green dress that I'd bought for her in Mallorca, Spain. Fallon had given her the gold bracelets for mother's day when we'd decided to start celebrating that human holiday. I kissed her cheek to let her know that I appreciated her wearing the dress.

"Meshra, I must say, you look fabulous dear."

"Thank you. Your brother called, he and Fallon are going to meet us at Malbec's. Do you remember how to get there?"

"Sookie and I will meet you there, I'm going to fly. I want her to see Paris at night."

"Is this your first time in Paris, Oh, you simply must see the dancers at the Dauphin Theatre. They are not to be missed."

"I promise I will get out to see them while we are here. And thank you for hosting us, Mrs….?"

"Really, just call me Meshra. Dr. Ra is awkward."

"If we start to get on your nerves, or if you just want us to move on, let us know, we can get a room."

"Nonsense, you brought my son home when I thought for sure I'd have to leave my beloved Paris for that fetid swamp he calls Louisiana. You're not from that wretched state are you?"

"Uh, yes ma'am, I am. Louisiana has its own charms."

"Sookie and I should be going Meshra."

"I'll meet you at Malbec's, then."

"Lover, I have so many things to show you, but for now, let's get to dinner. Meshra has told Malbec that you are coming, so there will be human food. Knowing Malbec, he is too cheap to have a human helper, so I cannot guarantee that it will be appetizing."

"I've got some crackers in my purse from the airplane, I should be all right."

I led her down the stairs and lifted her into the air. I promised her that we would dine under the Eiffel Tower the next night, as it was something that she desperately wanted to do.

Paris hadn't changed much at all. I flew down the streets as if I'd never been away. I thought about the coincidence that Marius had called as we were preparing to go to dinner and I knew in my soul that Meshra had called him. I would be on my best behavior, but I had about ten minutes worth of patience for him.

I set Sookie down on the sidewalk and smoothed my hair. Place de Thorigny had been bombed out during World War II, and many of the buildings were newer. Malbec's place had been one of the few surviving buildings.

I felt Fallon on the other side of the door, waiting for our arrival. I felt my heart catch in my throat; I'd missed my sister too. I let Sookie knock on the door, and Fallon threw it open immediately. She threw herself at us, which was her habit to do, so I was prepared to catch Sookie. I couldn't help but laugh as I stood Sookie upright.

"Eric! Meshra called and I didn't believe that you were really back. It's so good to see you."

"You too, Fallon. How are things? Are you still running that clothing store?" My sister had taken an interest in human clothing a number of years ago, but now that vampires were out, she'd developed a business around providing vampires with clothing that ranged from the theatrical to the mundane. But all of it was elegant and otherworldly.

"I am, I'm part owner now. I am also a buyer. When I get approval from my doctor, I'm going to come to America."

"Doctor?" I looked at Sookie to see if she'd noticed. "Whatever is wrong?"

"Well, you know that I have an eating disorder. Well, my doctor thinks that I have some sort of allergy to antibodies produced by humans and now we are looking into the possibility that maybe I can only eat from humans that are type A, but of Moroccan descent."

I smiled at Fallon because it just seemed like more of the bullshit vampire doctors had been telling her for years. I wished that she would stop seeing them and just accept her life as a vampire. I wished that she would let go of the idea that she was somehow different and strange. She hit me on the chest playfully.

"What's funny about that? I have a serious medical condition." I saw her appraising Sookie and she winked at me quickly. "And is this the lucky Mrs. Northman? This makes us like sisters or something." There was a burning smell coming from the kitchen and I knew that Sookie's meal was meeting its maker at this very moment.

"I'm Sookie, it really is good to meet you." Sookie stuck out her hand but let out a sharp gasp as Fallon pulled her in for a close hug. I'd forgotten to warn Sookie that my sister is a bit like a one hundred pound puppy; lots of love and affection, but she often forgot her own strength.

"I'm Fallon D'Orrico Northman, it's great to meet you."

Sookie took my hand. "Someone had better turn the pot down or off, or you're going to have a mess on your hands." Fallon flew into the kitchen and I shook my head. It really would be a disaster if my sister was responsible for feeding her. I would fly out to a market and buy things for Sookie if necessary. I could be there and back within minutes.

As we entered the salon, Marius turned to face us. I had expected him to be bitter and smarmy, but instead, he seemed apologetic. I wasn't prepared for a contrite Marius. I had to adjust my emotions slightly. I scanned the other vampires in the room; mostly friends of Meshra and Marius. Fallon had very few friends. They took an immediate notice of Sookie and the room fell silent. I felt her breathing hitch as if she was about to be sick. I held her close to me to let everyone in that room know that she was mine.

I stood up straighter and I noticed that many of the younger vampires who didn't know me made eye contact with me. I would have to inform them of the protocol when meeting your betters for the first time. Meshra nodded to me, which informed them that I am royalty as well. When they realized that I am her son, the prince, they instantly bowed. The exchange was so fast and slight that I wasn't sure if Sookie had caught it.

Marius stood and came to our side. He looked at me for permission and I nodded that he may greet Sookie. He took her into his arms and hugged her quickly, which in turn told the vampires of his court that she was to be treated with the same respect as he. The younger vampires renewed their conversations, and I was glad to have that formality over with.

"Well, aren't you a delicacy? I'm Marius Antonius D'Orrico. But you may call me brother if you'd like." He kissed Sookie's hand, but I knew that she was picking up on Marius's attempts to glamour her. She could handle herself. He flipped her wrist over and I felt my fangs run out. "Eric, may I sample your bride?"

Before I could respond, she'd pulled her wrist from him. "The decision is not Eric's and the answer is no." She crossed her arms defiantly and Marius nodded. I laughed at her rebuke because I knew that Marius hadn't expected a fight. I spoke to him in Italian so that Sookie would not feel self-conscious.

"She's not like the empty headed girls that you are used to. She will fight you." I hugged him briefly and shook his hand. "Marius, are you here alone tonight? Surely you have a playmate or two hanging onto your every word."

"Of course, brother, but none of fairy extraction. You smell enchanting. I could devour you in two bites."

I saw him looking at her and I grew defensive. I knew that he would never breach my relationship with Sookie since she was my wife, but the way he'd taken Pam from me had scarred me deeply. It took a number of years before I was able to speak to him again. I would be on guard in his presence for both our sakes.  
"Your brother's wife? Really? That's kind of gross."

I retracted my fangs, Sookie would hand Marius his ass and then some if he tried to seduce her.

"We've shared before." When he winked at me, I felt myself smirking. There were things about Paris that Sookie didn't need to know about. One of those things was the legions of women that he and I had enjoyed. When I saw Sookie's puzzled expression, I wondered briefly if Marius had meant Pam.

"Not by choice." I looked at him cautioning him to change the subject. I hadn't told Sookie the awful details of how Marius had swept in and taken my only companion. I would try to avoid that conversation for a while yet. I saw Lord Malbec and dragged Sookie over to him. He bored me to within an inch of my immortality, but he was more tolerable than dredging up the past right now.

"Win, old man. It's good to see you. I wanted to introduce you to Sookie. Sookie, this is Lord Winthrop Malbec of Somerset, England. Win, I present Mrs. Sookie Northman, my lovely wife." Malbec took her hand and she dipped in a little American curtsy. I lifted her back to a standing position; she had no business curtseying to him, he was beneath her socially. But it was cute, and Malbec giggled like a school-girl that someone respected his position. He began to bore Sookie with the made up story of his origins. No one could prove or disprove his relation to Mary Queen of Scots, he'd just been declaring himself her cousin for so long that everyone came to accept it. I abandoned Sookie to Malbec and made my way around the room.

I saw Marius sidle up to Sookie and she relaxed into his arms until she realized that it was him and not me. I walked over to Meshra and kissed her cheek.

"Well, Mother, what do you think?"

"I think you've done a marvelous job. It's obvious that you love each other. I'm just sorry that it took someone trying to drain you for you to have my blood."

"Meshra, Sookie has had a lot of my blood, I mean a whole lot. Should I be concerned about her turning?"

"I don't think so. Her Fae blood will protect her from turning from having your blood during—uh….sex." As old as we were, discussing sex was awkward. We tried to change the subject but laughed when it became obvious. She looked over at Marius and Sookie as she spoke. "I don't know a lot about the Fae, so don't quote me on it. They're so darned secretive. I would give a small fortune to meet with one of their elders.

"Sookie's great-grandfather is a fairy prince."

"Oh, Wow. So, she is descendent of very powerful Fae magic. I would not be surprised if she began displaying supernatural traits of her own."

"She's telepathic, although I'm not certain that is a known Fae trait."

"That girl is going to surprise you, Eric. You're going to need to keep on your toes." She picked at a blood canapé. "I know it's soon to be thinking of this, but Eric, have you and Sookie considered whether or not you will have children?"  
"No, I've never thought about it because it's not possible."

"I'm just wondering if the two of you had discussed it."

"No, we hadn't it's not possible, so we've never discussed it. Mother, what are you getting at?" Marius crossed the room towards us suddenly.

"Son, why won't you tell me what happened between you, Marius and Fallon on the boat that made you leave?"

"Because there hasn't been an appropriate time to talk with you about it. I promise, before we leave France, I will sit down with you and discuss everything. I didn't mean to hurt you, I really didn't. I'd just had enough."

"Marius didn't mean to hurt you."

"Whatever, Mom." I refilled my glass and walked back over to Sookie's side as Meshra tapped the side of her wine glass.

"Everyone, please help me welcome Sookie to our family." I looked around the room. Several of the young vampires clapped. The older more worldly vampires nodded their approval. I nodded in acknowledgment. Sookie gazed up at me, and I knew that I'd done the right thing by introducing my wife at Malbec's. She would be accepted into the fold, and once word got out in Europe, the American vampires would accept our relationship as well.

"Yes, welcome, dear sister. I'm looking forward to tasting you very soon."

"Marius, that's not ever going to happen, so you can let that go. I'm Eric's." I had to smile when she said this, several times in the past she had declared herself to be Bill Compton's. To hear her say that she belonged to me was gratifying. It wasn't an ownership thing, Sookie could never be owned. It was about her declaring her love for me, and that she knew that I loved her just as much if not more.

"Good to see that you haven't changed a bit, Marius. I need to introduce you to someone, darling. If you can tear yourself away from my brother's charms." I steered her away from him and she put her arms around my waist and looked up at me. I couldn't wait to get her home and be alone. I would take my time with her.

"I mean no harm, I am merely appreciating your wife's beauty. And is it my fault that she has the intoxicating scent of fairy? You know how I feel about them."

Sookie was gracious, even though he was pouring on the charm.

"Thank you for the compliment, Marius, but it's really not necessary."

"So, Eric. How is Louisiana? Meshra says that you run a vampire bar. Have you fallen on hard times?"

"Maybe you'd like to come work for me?" Marius could be such a snob about things that I knew he would never consider working for a living. He'd been much too successful glamouring unsuspecting humans into giving him money over the years. I knew that he would take offense as soon as the words were out of my mouth. I wasn't entirely kidding.

"Work is for humans." Sookie giggled and caught herself as he tossed his long hair over his shoulder. He could be so very Roman about his approach to things.

"Our mother works."

"Our mother has a soft spot for these creatures. She values time spent around them. I personally don't understand the attraction." Sookie walked over to the bar and I understood that she meant to get a little bit drunk tonight. Before she could reach the bar, Fallon flagged her down and she disappeared into the kitchen. I walked over to the stereo and looked at the iPod playing in the stereo. I'd never been a huge fan of The Bird and the Bee, but this song was one I liked. Marius walked his girlfriends over to the stereo where I was standing. They kept their eyes averted until I kissed each one's hand. He introduced the taller of the two, a brunette from Loxley who was to be one of the four women we feasted on this evening.

"It is so good to meet you, Mr. Northman. Marius talks about you all the time."

"Pleasure to meet you too, Rebecca. Have you and Marius been dating long?"

"A little over three years. This is our lover Penelope. Pen, this is Marius's brother, Eric." I looked at the big-eyed blonde before me. She was tiny and seemed slightly frightened to be in a room filled with so many vampires.

"Hello, Penelope. It is wonderful to meet you." I caught her gaze and held it, gently coaxing her to be calm. She smiled timidly, as if she'd been glamoured many times over. I wanted to ask her if she was there willingly, but I knew that Marius would never do something so despicable as force a human into subservience. There were so many women willingly throwing themselves at him. I wanted to ask him about it and more. I asked him in Swedish to dismiss his ladies so that we could talk. He turned to Rebecca who seemed to be in charge.

"Rebecca, mi amore, if you will take Pen to meet Lord Malbec, I would appreciate it." He kissed each on the mouth, and I had a fleeting moment where I wondered if Sookie would consider sharing me with Allison. Just as quickly I laughed at the idea of Sookie staking me in my sleep for suggesting it.

"What is funny?" Marius spoke in Latin, the language he was most comfortable with. I replied in Swedish, my Latin had always been suspect. But he always seemed to understand me.

"Shall we go out onto the terrace?" I held the door open and escorted him out. "I-uh, I wanted to talk to you."

"First, of all, meus frater, I need to apologize to you for what I have said and done. I have had a number of years of thinking, and missing your friendship. I have nearly wrecked things and for that I am terribly sorry. You didn't deserve the treatment that you got from me."

"You're right. I didn't. It wasn't my choice to be a part of your family, but once I was, you had a responsibility to not treat me like shit. You can't know what it was like for me to be pushed onto your family. You can't know what it was like to know that Andronicus did not want me anywhere near Meshra, and I loved her dearly. I thought you were on my side. Do you remember that day in the forest when Appius left? Do you remember bringing me the raven?"

"Of course I do." He looked down and I wondered if he was genuinely penitent, or if it was easier to just absorb what I had to say.

"I thought that you had finally come to accept me. I thought that you had finally come to care about me, the way that I cared about you. I looked up to you and you kept pushing me aside."

"You think I don't know what it was like for you? Try having your parents ripped away from you because their attention is now divided between their emotionally challenged daughter and a stray vampire they'd picked up along the way. I wasn't trying to destroy you, I was trying to get my mother to love me as much as she did before she found you. You think it is easy knowing that she loves you far more than she'll ever love me? I had my mother's love until you came. Yes, that is a childish desire, but I was a child in many respects."

"Marius, this is insanity. Meshra thinks the world of you. You are too self-centered to see that she has been focusing on me to get me to be more like you. You arrogant prick. Excuse me."

"We are not finished."

"We are tonight." I stepped to the terrace door and opened it. "One other thing. If you so much as graze Sookie with your fangs, I will take your head. Am I clear?"

"If you are that insecure about your wife, you have bigger problems than me."

He pushed past me into the salon and I slammed the door. Many of the guests turned their heads to see what the dispute was about, but I pushed past them and walked over to Sookie as she began setting the table.

"If you would like, you and I could walk the grounds until they finish." I needed to get out of this tiny room filled with the judgmental stares of Marius's court. He and I glared at each other over Sookie's head.

"No, honey, you eat. I'm going to sit in the kitchen with the other humans and eat the delicious spaghetti that your sister made for us."

"Are you serious? My sister with the eating disorder cooked for you?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too. She does need attention, Eric, and I think she would really be a happier, more secure woman if you guys would stop fighting each other and pay attention to her."

That was part of the problem we were enduring to this day. Allison had pointed out that Meshra had spoiled us each to the point that we needed to be the sole focus of attention. She had created an unrealistic world-view, where love could never be enough. I shook my head at the thought that maybe Meshra had unintentionally fucked us up.

"All of that from twenty minutes with her? She's convinced you too, then?"

"No, something is wrong with her, Eric. Can't you guys see that?"

"Have either of you ever asked her why she's like this?"

"Of course, Sookie. I appreciate that you've taken an interest in my sister, but she's like this, okay? Her behavior has just gotten stranger and stranger. We had to move so many times because of her. Marius and I just stopped listening after a while."

"Well, I'm just saying that that girl is troubled and I can't quite put my finger on why."

"I don't want to fight with you. I'll try to spend some time with her and I'll even tell her I love her if you want." I turned her around and tried to get her to look at me. "Come on, Lover. Don't let Fallon's weirdness get between us. Tonight is about having fun, and us being together and you meeting my family." I circled her in my arms and kissed the top of her head. She turned around and faced me with those bright blue eyes that so mirrored my own.

"Just promise me that you'll take her seriously, at least while we're here."

"If you promise me that we'll get a room tomorrow night so that we can make love without my mother knowing about it."

"I will take care of that first thing in the morning."

I saw Sookie noticing that Marius and Meshra had begun dining on Rebecca and Penelope. I didn't know where the other two women had gone. I felt my fangs run out and I closed my mouth so that Sookie would not notice, but she had. She nodded to me as if it was all right for me to join my family at the table. I didn't want to make Sookie uncomfortable, but I hadn't eaten in a while and I was still trying to gain my strength back.

"I promise, I will only take what I need, and I won't let myself become aroused."

"Honey, I know that that is impossible. This is what you are. I'll be in the kitchen, enjoy your dinner." When she went into the kitchen, she closed the kitchen door and I felt her heart sink. I would make sure that she never had to see this side of my family again. I would talk to Meshra about making sure that Fallon and Marius fed before coming to her apartment to spend time with us while we were here.

I walked over to the table and sat down next to Meshra. She was feeding from Rebecca who seemed to be the more popular of the two women stretched across the table. Penelope looked frightened, as if this were her first time being shared, so I stood beside her and stroked her cheek.

"Are you afraid?"

She gazed up at me, entranced. "A little, why?"

"Because you don't need to be. We won't drain you. Did Marius tell you what you were getting into?"

"Marius tells me everything. He loves me." I looked over at him and wondered if this was really the case. "I'm scared, but it's what I've always wanted. I want to be a vampire, but Marius won't turn me. Would you turn me if I asked you to?"

"No, I wouldn't. But there is no shortage of vampires who would."

"Why is everyone feeding from Rebecca when I'm just as willing?"

"Because you seem afraid. Rebecca is very confident, and that is appealing to us because we temporarily absorb some of the emotions and characteristics of the person we've dined from. None of us wants to be weakened by your timidity."

She seemed deflated by my assessment of her, but it was the truth.

"If you want to be more alluring, present yourself more confidently. We will notice." I decided to do her a favor and dine from her first. I could afford a few minutes of her less desirable blood, and I knew that if I handled her properly, and if this was what she really wanted, her true self would emerge. If she was a smart girl, she would get the idea and demonstrate her enjoyment to intrigue the others.

I sat down at the table and lifted her left arm to my mouth. She was completely naked, as was Rebecca, and she was very warm. I kept eye contact with her the whole time that I prepared to bite her wrist. She inhaled deeply as if she was trying to calm down as I bit. I felt her heart skip a little, and then her blood was pooling in my mouth. I moaned as I drank, thirsty, hungry and a little ashamed that I was instantly aroused by her and wanted nothing more than to take Penelope someplace more private. Penelope reached up and smoothed my hair as I drank and others began to take notice of her. I looked down at her and her wide, doe-like eyes had narrowed as if she was in rapture. I saw Fallon at her neck suddenly, and she pushed Penelope's hair aside. Pen turned her head to Fallon, and kissed her. Fallon turned Penelope's head back towards me to expose her neck, and when she bit in, Penelope gasped. I reached across Penelope's stomach with my left hand and took Fallon's hand in mine. We hadn't fed together in a long time and I missed my sister.

Fallon's silver eyes flashed at me and she let me hold her hand as Penelope began writhing beneath us. I noticed that Marius had finished with Rebecca, and as some of us older vampires, who didn't need nearly the amount of blood the younger one's required, finished, the younger ones took our place with the existing punctures, so as not to deform the young women.

I saw Marius go into the kitchen and I stood to go to Sookie. Penelope pulled at my arm and I looked down at her. Fallon was wiping her mouth and my friend Alistaire was about to take her place. She crooked her finger for me to bend down by her mouth I leaned over and felt her hot breath move the hair by my ear.

"Eric, I want to thank you. I know that Rebecca is prettier, and you made me feel special. Thank you."

I kissed her softly and stared down at her. "She isn't prettier, just different, and you need to embrace that. You're much sexier than she is, just flaunt it a little more."

"Do you want me? You could have me."

"I do, but I won't take you if that's what you're asking. I'm here with my wife, and I'm going to her now." I kissed her again and stepped back from the table.

"You're sweeter than Marius." Her eyes followed me, and for a moment or two, I wondered about the notion of fidelity. Sookie and I had pledged to each other that we would remain faithful, but I wondered how far was too far and what would she think of the exchanges that took place between me and the person I chose to drink from. I could never live on blood substitutes. I knew that she understood on some level that sex and the blood exchange were intertwined. We didn't ask for it to be this way, it just was. But marriage required that we ignore this fact and pretend that we wouldn't get aroused. I would talk to Sookie about this sometime. She had to have realized this at some point when she was dating Bill and as she considered her life with me.

Malbec stopped me at the kitchen door and pulled me aside.

"Eric, your bride is delightful. I should say. I've not met a more enchanting human female in quite some time. Is she averse to allowing us to dine from her this evening as well?"

"My wife is not on the menu. Not now, or ever. She isn't like them."

"I didn't mean to offend, I was merely asking."

"I know Win, I know. I'm sorry I'm testy. Marius and I--"

"You needn't say anymore. He's hardly manageable these days. And he drags those two humans with him everywhere he goes. It's not right that he flaunts his prowess so."

"You would do the same if you were in his shoes, Win."

"Why yes, but that doesn't make it pleasant for the rest of us. All they talk about is that ridiculousness he does with his hands, that lightning thing."

I smiled as I remembered Marius's talent. Many husbands had shown up at taverns all over Europe begging Marius to stop sleeping with their women. And while they didn't know he was a vampire, they knew that he was dangerous, and it was nothing for us to be sitting at a table and feel a wretched man approaching, hat in hand, back bent in acquiescence. The poor thing would stare pitifully at the table, never making eye contact with us and beg the twin gods to stop giving their wives the touch.

"Win, enjoy your evening, I'm going to check on Sookie."

"Your mother is so happy that you've returned. Thank you for keeping your word. I haven't seen her like this since you left."

I looked over at her, and I had to admit that she was giddy. She floated from guest to guest, laying a hand on someone's shoulder. Staring attentively at her lessers. She didn't have to entertain these young vamps, but her very acknowledgement was a gift to them, and their positions would be elevated at having been a guest of the famous Reverent Mother's. I was so proud to be her son at that moment. I had to remember that our positions gave us a responsibility to other vampires to model graciousness, and level-headedness. Meshra tossed her head back in a laugh and I was glad that I was home.

I stepped into the kitchen as Marius was explaining to Sookie that I was the only thing standing between him and Pam. It was more complex than that.

"Is Marius regaling you with stories of our sordid past?" I gave her a wink as I sat down and she flashed me a contented smile. She was relieved that I was finished feeding for the evening, and she was relieved that I hadn't left her sitting alone for very long.

"Yes, my darling, he is. He said that he was in love with Pam."

"He did, did he?" I glared at him. Pam was the sticking point between my brother and me. He'd so casually taken her that I wondered if he really cared for me at all. I knew that it would escalate things, but I couldn't help myself. I fired a verbal volley at him. "I don't recall you being so in love with her when you left her in Sweden. She was devastated. You know what I went through rescuing her and bailing your ass out." He looked at me, and I could tell that he was working very hard not to be angry.

"That was not my choice, you know that I was being pursued."

"So you sold her out when you're the one that was sloppy. You should have planned better. You got caught, and you left her to take the blame. You made it dangerous for all of us. If you think that's being in love then you've got a really fucked up view of it." He looked at me then, and I knew by his expression that he had suffered a great loss when he'd lost Pam. He began speaking to me in Italian so that Sookie would not understand what we were saying.

"Eric, you don't want to do this here in front of your lovely wife. You are pushing me little brother. I have put up with this for years. I have said to you that I was sorry a million times. I don't know how else to say it. I loved her. I wasn't trying to hurt you. Yes, I took her from you. But you act as if you don't lord your power over her. You think that she would have gone to America with you if you weren't her maker? You don't love her, Eric, you just loved that you had someone that I wanted. You just wanted to keep her from me. I really didn't intend to fall in love with your child. When you brought her to Rome, something happened. She and I just felt something. She felt it as strongly as I. It was your decision to keep her from me when you could have released her to me."

"Marius, you had so many women. Why did you want her? You knew why I'd created her."

"Is there no one at home wishing that you had not swept this fairy girl off her feet? As I've said before, brother, I never wanted to hurt you. I fell in love. Pam and I could have worked things out."

I looked at Sookie's terrified face. She had been between two men with heated tempers before and it had shaken her.

"Marius, Pam didn't know what she was getting into with you. You would have treated her poorly. Much like you're treating Penelope. Pam deserved better."

"Oh, you were only too happy to rush in and take her from me."

"I had to protect her from you."

"Please, you two, don't do this. Let's just have a nice evening." I felt myself calming as Sookie took deep measured breaths and tried to relax me by pushing. She had learned how to manipulate me far too quickly for my liking. Fallon came in, and I knew then that we had caused a scene in the salon.

"Meshra has asked the humans to leave, so if you wanted to tip them, you should go now." Fallon stared at both of us with a look of disappointment. We'd ruined Meshra's party by airing our fraternal grievances. Sookie took Fallon's hand.

"You okay, Fallon?"

"I'm going to be sick, that's all. I shouldn't have eaten, I should have had something else before I came here tonight." Sookie put her arm around Fallon and I wanted to hold them both.

"Damned blood whores." Marius took out his wallet and handed Fallon some money to get Rebecca and Penelope home. I guessed that he would catch up to them later, but his public dismissal would cost him some points with Rebecca at the very least. In the next moment, Sookie was at his side.

"Marius, I appreciate that you took the time to come apologize to me, that was very sweet of you. I'm looking forward to spending time with you over the next week. Will you show me around Meshra's neighborhood?"

I watched Sookie maneuvering and I wondered if Marius had lost his edge. It was clear to Fallon and me that Sookie was doing her own bit of glamouring. She batted her big lashes and thrust her chest at him. I was proud, amused and suddenly aware that I'd been duped by that very same tone of voice when I'd agreed to pose as a gay man to accompany her at an orgy. I watched him melt in her gaze and I knew then that fairies could glamour.

"Certamente, certamente. We will walk the streets, and I will show you all of Paris, if Eric will let me borrow you for an evening."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind, right honey? He knows I can take care of myself." When she looked at me the way that she did, I was afraid for him.

"If he can behave himself and not get you into any trouble with the law, then sure." I was still angry, but for Sookie, Fallon and Meshra's sakes, I would let it go for the rest of the evening. I took Sookie's arm. "Mother will wonder why we're holed up in here. I still want to introduce you to Alistaire, a friend of mine from my London days."

Sookie put the finishing touch on Marius by kissing him on each cheek, then she let me escort her to the salon.

"Sweetheart, I did that to help smooth things over. Can we just get through this dinner party?"

I wanted nothing more than to go home. I regretted that I'd told Sookie that we would stay a month. I ran my fingers through my hair, and I saw Sookie watching me. She was turned on by the gesture and I wanted to get her home.

"I think you out-manipulated a master manipulator."

"I'm learning, I'm learning. I just didn't want things to get ugly. We're going to have to talk later, but I didn't want you two coming to blows over ancient history."

I looked everywhere for Alistaire, but couldn't find him. He'd probably gone at the first sign of trouble between the D'Orrico-Northman boys. I walked Sookie over to Guillaume Montrachet instead, and I knew that she'd recognized him from his films. Guillaume was expecting trouble too and had already begun his excuses for why he had to leave.

When I saw Sookie yawning, I knew I had my out. I began making the loop to begin our goodbyes. I led Sookie over to Fallon so that she could thank her for the meal and make arrangements to meet with her soon. Meshra caught my eye just as we slipped out of the apartment. She winked at me and I knew that she would stay out long enough for us to make love without being disturbed. I scooped Sookie into my arms and flew her home. She giggled the whole way, a combination of the champagne and jetlag.

We tore at each other's clothes as we entered the apartment. I kissed her frantically, and she threw herself into my arms. I unzipped her dress and unhooked her bra in two swift movements. She knelt in front of me, and showed me what she'd learned in the last few nights. I threw my head back as she worked me gently. I let her know that she didn't have to be quite so careful and she became more aggressive. I felt my knees going, and I stopped her momentarily so that I could lie down on the bed.

I stepped out of my pants and positioned myself on the bed. She slid up the length of me and resumed. I watched her as she seemed to really enjoy taking me into her mouth. After many minutes of thinking that I would die again, I pulled her up to my mouth and kissed her. She growled low in her throat and I rolled her over onto her back.

"I want you."

"I know, baby." She dragged her nails across my shoulders and I took her mouth. She begged me to make love to her and I gave in. We took advantage of the privacy; the realization that we were truly alone, to give ourselves to each other. The more I growled, the louder she screamed. I pushed myself into her for a final time and released. I told her I loved her in Swedish, as I had every time that we'd made love. She quivered in my arms; sweaty, bloody and exhausted. I licked every inch of her that I could, causing her to shiver even more. Within minutes, we were making love again. And this time, as she screamed for the last time, I heard Meshra's key in the lock. I rolled my Angel into my arms and held her under the sheets as we drifted into sated sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

I heard rock music coming from the front room as I woke for the evening. Sookie and Lisette were dancing around the room with feather dusters. I watched her for a few minutes from the doorway. She seemed so happy that I felt my own heart surge. She did her best Shirley Manson impression swinging her ponytail and shaking her hips. I laughed, and she blushed furiously. I loved to see her blush, all that delicious blood rushing to her cheeks.

Sookie had filled the room with fresh flowers as a gift for Meshra. She was so thoughtful. Meshra gushed over every bouquet. Sookie came over and kissed me. I pulled her into our room.

"We have a date, I need you to get showered and changed."

"I told Fallon that I wanted to see her tonight."  
"I'll call her while you're in the shower, go. You can't be late or I'm leaving without you."

"Come shower with me."

"No, we'll be really late if we do that. Go, I'll take care of Fallon. And Sookie, thanks for getting flowers for Meshra, she really does have a thing for daffodils."

"You're welcome baby." I watched as she ran to the shower. Everywhere she went, she bounced as if she was the happiest girl in the world. I walked out to the salon and called Fallon. She wasn't happy that Sookie and I wouldn't be available again, but I promised her that we would be here long enough to spend plenty of time together.

Meshra was at her desk in her office. I knocked on the door.

"Come in." She sipped at a glass and removed a pencil from her hair.

"Mom."

"Darling, have a seat. How was your evening? She's quite the screamer. Malbec and I sat on the steps waiting for you two to finish and I thought I might have to go back to his place for the night."

"She's very, very enthusiastic. I'm a lucky man. You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she's amazing in bed." She looked away again, embarrassed.

"You seem really happy, Eric. I am thrilled that you have met someone who makes you this happy. I had a great conversation with her this morning. Is there any chance she'd be convinced to be turned?"

"I don't know. I think she wouldn't want it, but I also think that as she begins to age, she may change her mind. I've had other women beg me to turn them just to stop them from aging any further."

"Humans are curious beings. That's part of why I find them so fascinating. They are unpredictable, and frightened by everything they don't understand. They harm each other for no reason, and yet there is a great capacity to love. Remember that human that I dated back in 1935 or so? What was his name?"

"You've forgotten? His name was Adam something."

"Yes, yes, Adam Collins. Remember how I doted on that poor bastard? Watching him die put me off humans forever. I've had enough loss for my own personal liking."

"I know. I didn't plan to fall in love with a human. Certainly not marry one and commit myself to her for her lifetime."

"How does she feel about your eating habits?"

"You mean, uh, last night with Penelope? That is something I will have to discuss with her. She knows that the blood exchange is very intimate and I know that she wishes I could survive on her blood alone, but that wouldn't be good for either of us."

"How did you feel drinking from Pen last night?"

"Honestly, I didn't feel as awful as I should and that worries me. I worry that Sookie will doubt my fidelity or my love for her because of the way that we are."

"Would you like me to talk with her at some point?"

"Maybe. She may just think that I'm having you prepare her for my inevitable unfaithfulness, and I don't won't her to worry about that."

"Then I'll wait to hear from you. But if she comes to me, I will talk with her about jealousy. I know that you would never intentionally hurt her. It's one of the many things that I love about you, Eric, your kindness. I'm glad that someone has finally gotten through that wall you'd built up around yourself."

"I don't want to talk about that, Mother."

"I'm just saying, I wish that you would talk to someone about—"

"Enough, mother." I knew that she was talking about what my maker had done to me. I would never discuss it with anyone and I hated to be reminded that I'd ever been so weak. I hated the thought that I'd been victimized. I felt a wave in my chest and realized that I'd become fantastically angry. Meshra sensed that I was pulling away from her, so she changed the subject, but only enough to get me to stop gripping the sides of my chair.

"Fallon is glad you're back. So is Marius."

"Marius, really?" I had a hard time keeping the sarcasm out of my voice.

"He has missed you. You don't realize how much he loves you. He has missed you terribly."

"Meshra, Marius and I don't have that kind of relationship anymore."

"But you could. Will you tell me why the two of you can't seem to get along?"

"It's about Pam. He took her from me, you knew about that. He says that he fell in love with her, but he abandoned her and left her to take the blame for something that he did. I just don't respect that." She looked down at her computer. "Not to mention the fact that I had to do something completely despicable to protect them both." I thought about the night that Pam had sent word for me to help them escape from a house where they'd killed children. I didn't have many rules as a vampire, but killing children was to be avoided at all costs. Marius didn't seem to abide by that rule. Pam had gotten caught up with him in a situation where she could have been killed. I was so afraid to lose her that I rushed to her aid. I flew Pam back to my apartment where she sat on the floor in my arms crying and angry that I wouldn't let her see Marius.

"Oh, Honey, I knew that something had happened, I just wasn't sure what. Eric, do me a favor, please just give your brother a chance. For me?" She came around the desk, knelt before me and took my hands in hers. "Please?"

"Mom." I looked down at her knowing that I've never been able to refuse her anything. In that moment, I wished that I would know what it was like to have a child, staring up at me begging me for the moon and stars.

"Come on, you boys are so wonderful when you're together."

"I promise to try, Meshra." She leapt up into my arms and I hugged her back. Meshra was certainly happier than I'd seen her in years.

"You have big plans tonight?"

"We do. I'm taking her to the Eiffel Tower. She's dying to see it and I want to show her Paris."  
"I have something for her." She went to her room and back in seconds. "Do you recognize this?"

"Yes, I do. Is that the stone that Titus gave you when the two of you lived in Corsica?"

"Yes, it is. I can't wear this without thinking about him, and it is too painful. I miss him so much."

"I know. He was a good man. Sookie will appreciate it. Are you sure that you want to part with it?"

"I genuinely cannot look at it without thinking of my love. Besides, Win and I are thinking of becoming nest mates."

"Really? Well that's interesting. Do you love him, Meshra?"

"No. And he knows that. He and I are just tired of being alone."

"I don't think that you should settle for Win just because you two are lonely. You're a beautiful woman. You can have anyone you want. You look as if you're in your late thirties, early forties. He looks to be in his seventies."

"I know. I was concerned about that too. I'll think about it."

"Please do. I have to get dressed. Thanks for giving her the diamond."

"You're welcome. She'll look amazing." I paused at the door as she went back to her computer.

"And thank you for accepting my wife as your daughter. She doesn't have any family, not really, just a brother and a few disinterested fairies. It means a lot to me."

"I know." She nodded slowly and went back to typing.

I closed the door and headed back to my room. Sookie was finishing up her shower, so I dressed quickly. I left my collar open and splashed on some cologne. I went to the salon to get her a rose to take with her. She came out of our bedroom in a dark blue dress and as she turned for me to zip up the back, I kissed her spine. My wife…I still couldn't believe it. I handed her a rose, it was nowhere near as beautiful as my roses, but she didn't seem to mind. She leaned over to kiss me and Meshra pulled Sookie over to her.

Meshra's diamond was four carats, and it was sparkling white. Sookie's warm tanned skin showed it off perfectly.

I escorted her down the stairs and onto the street where the horse drawn carriage that I'd asked Bobby to order was waiting. "Sookie, would you join me for an evening at the Eiffel Tower?"

"That would be wonderful." She beamed as I lifted her into my arms and flew us up into the carriage. "Le Tour Eiffel, s'il-vous plait."

I could feel her shivering beside me so I held her closely. I couldn't warm her body, but I could shield her from the worst of the wind. I saw the band and the catered table that I'd requested. I led Sookie across the Champs de Mars and the singer looked over at me. Michelle Leveque, a friend of Guillaume's, was singing in French. When I nodded to her, she began singing in English for Sookie.

"Angel, have a seat." I pulled her chair out for her then pushed it in as she sat down.

"Eric, if we weren't already married, I'd swear you were about to ask."

"I want you to enjoy being married to me. Our life together is going to be challenging, so I want to spoil you when we're together."

"Honey, you don't have to go out of your way, I just want to be with you. This is such a nice surprise."

I watched her staring up at the Eiffel Tower. I could show her so much of the world. I could teach her so much. This was what I'd wanted with Pam, but Pam didn't want those things from me. "I watched this being built from Meshra's roof. There was a pretty vocal group of French citizens that didn't want it to be constructed, and now look. It's the symbol of France." I let Sookie's happiness wash over me as I signaled for the waiters. She impressed me with her French by thanking the waiter.

"So tell me, Lover, do you miss Bon Temps much?"

"Bon what?" "I miss Jason a little, but I am truly blown away by how beautiful this city is. Bobby and I walked for hours today. We went to the Louvre and saw the most wonderful special exhibit about Italian rivals Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. I have never been impressed by Renaissance art, but it was really interesting and beautiful. I wish you could have been there."

She flinched a little when she heard what she'd just said. I didn't think much of it, but she was being cautious of my feelings.

"They have night time hours at the Louvre for Vampires. I could take you back. Paris is a very progressive city, if you want, we could relocate to Europe. There are far more twenty-four hour facilities here than in the U.S. By the way, did you see anyone familiar in any of the paintings?" I waited to see if she would take my meaning. There was no chance that she'd noticed the painting on her own.

"Familiar? What do you mean, like La Jaconde, the Mona Lisa or do you mean like someone I should know?"

"I'm in one of the paintings there. _The Intervention of the Sabine Women_ by Jacques-Louis David."

"Are you messing with me?"

"No, I'm not messing with you, Jacques-Lou, as we called him, was a friend of mine and he needed a model. As you have so often pointed out, my rear view is stellar."

"That is just about the most fantastical thing that I have ever heard."

"If you don't believe me, I will take you back to the Louvre, drop trou and show you." She laughed, but I was serious. When she saw that I wasn't kidding, she laughed again.

"Is Marius in a painting too?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact." But for the life of me, I couldn't remember which one.

"I don't know if I could leave Ravenwood, it's so beautiful. I could live there forever. Maybe we could get an apartment here to visit a few months out of the year."

To hear her speak of staying with me at Ravenwood forever encouraged me that maybe I could convince her to be turned. That maybe I wouldn't lose my wife again after all.

"Can I get you anything else?"

"I'm fine, I really am." She touched the diamond at her neck.

"I can't believe she let me wear it. What if I lose it?"

"You won't lose it. Meshra means to give it to you as a wedding present. I can tell. My mother is not very subtle."

I could tell that she wanted to ask me something. So, I waited patiently. When the band finished, she looked over at me.

"Eric, why did you leave Europe twenty-five years ago? What happened that made you leave your family and go so far away?"

"Well, that was the second time that I'd left Europe, the first time was when I built Ravenwood nearly one hundred twenty years ago. Things were going smoothly for my whole family, then Fallon got into some trouble with a man. No one could find her, my mother panicked, so Marius and I went and got her. It's a long story, but the short version is that Marius and I had a disagreement and, well, it got pretty ugly. It always gets ugly between us. I don't understand why Marius gets so angry with me, but he and I can't be around each other for very long. I left because Europe wasn't big enough for Marius and me. It still isn't in some ways."

"What happened between you, Marius and Pam?"

"Sookie, this is our date, are you sure you want to hear about this? There are parts of this story that may hurt you, or make you insecure and I don't want you to worry about my relationship with Pam."

"I'm sure, Eric. Now is as good a time as any."

I had tried to put this off as long as I could. I didn't want her to think that I was harboring feelings for Pam. In fact, falling for Sookie had made me realize that I was completely over Pam and any remaining feelings were deeply rooted in friendship and admiration. I let her finish her bite of bread and cheese then held her hand.

"I made Pam about 220 years ago." I knew then that Pam had lied about her age. Sookie opened her mouth to interrupt me but I stopped her. I needed to get this over and done. "She lies about her age to make herself seem younger. She and I had been in London together for about 15 years. I know that you know that she and I were lovers. I created her because I needed a companion. Keep in mind that this was two centuries before you were born, so please don't be hurt, but I was madly in love with her. She was not in love with me, but I hoped that she would learn to love me. I was proud that she was my first vampire and I was a strong maker. I took her to Rome to meet Marius and Fallon, and Marius proceeded to seduce Pam and convince her to ask me to release her. I didn't want to let her go because I loved her, and because I would have been alone again. Marius kept pushing, and she was so crazy about him that I could hardly stand it. We all lived together in an apartment and it was madness. I would demand that Pam sleep with me, to make Marius angry. She had to obey me, but she would lie there and tell me that she wanted to be with Marius. I told her that I loved her and that I would be good to her, but she didn't want me. I was angry and hurt that she would reject me for my brother. He knew that I loved her, he knew that she meant a lot to me as a maker." Sookie had stopped breathing, so I paused to give her a second to digest all of this. It felt good to get this off my chest, but I didn't want it to be at her expense.

"You all right, Sookie?"

"I'm all right, go on and tell me all of it."

"She and Marius came to me one night and begged me to release her. I had had enough of them treating me poorly and being angry with me. I was frustrated that she didn't love me back, so I told her to leave and never let me see her again. I was crushed.

She and Marius disappeared and I didn't hear from them again for 3 years. Pam sent word to me that she and Marius were in Zurich, Switzerland living in an area now known as Kirschgasse. She said that he was taking chances that could expose them and would I please come talk some sense into him. I refused. I told her that she'd made her bed and she would have to lie in it. I moved back to Sweden near where my village had been. She and Marius showed up there and needless to say I was very, very angry. They flaunted their relationship, and then Marius began hunting in areas where I had been, and things began happening. Villagers reported people missing and the description of the last known companion of the victims began to fit my description. Which as you know is Marius, right? I asked them to leave so that I could be in peace and they refused.

One night, I followed them to ask them to leave again; Marius was jeopardizing my ability to stay in my own village. I approached Pam and she was sobbing; hair a wreck, dress torn and dirty. I asked her where Marius was, and she told me that she didn't know, but that he had really messed up. She told me that they were drinking from the mayor's twin girls who were 13, and his four-year old son walked in. He saw Marius and went for help. Pam tried to kill him to stop him from telling, but she couldn't kill a child. She saw Marius fleeing. The boy got away and the Mayor came to the girl's room where he discovered his dead daughters. They began searching the house for Pam and Marius, so I burned the house to the ground after trapping everyone inside. I got Pam and I took her back to London. I gave her the option of returning to me and pledging loyalty, or I could destroy her on the spot. She chose to come to Paris with me, but I told her she could never see Marius again."

Sookie was so still that I didn't know what was upsetting her. I knew that she would be surprised to hear that I'd killed children, but it was a different life, and I decided that I wouldn't keep my past hidden from her. I thought of Allison briefly, but pushed the thought aside.

"I asked Pam if she'd ever been in love. Was she talking about Marius?"

"She would have to be talking about him, he's the only man she's ever loved as a vampire."

"She told me that she wishes that she'd done more to keep their relationship together. That doesn't sound like what you're saying happened."

"Pam is obviously practicing revisionist history. She doesn't recall how bad it was when I came to get her. She spent evenings walking the streets looking for him. I would find her sitting in windows, drawing little hearts in the condensation. She was devastated. I had to hunt for both of us, bringing food back to the apartment for her, or she wouldn't feed. I was so fed up with her damned pouting that I released her again and sent her out with a wad of cash and a train ticket."

"Why would Marius work so hard to take Pam from you? And how is it that you and he can stand to be in the same room together?"

"Meshra intervened for Fallon. She threatened to meet the sun if we didn't work things out. Fallon began having issues with cutting herself and that's when this eating disorder got worse."

"I'm sorry that things have been so hard for you." She placed her hand on mine and I put mine over hers. Michelle began singing again and I waved off the waiters.

"It is of no consequence, Lover. I wouldn't have you if he hadn't taken her from me. I haven't had feelings for Pam for nearly 180 years. The whole episode only lasted about 20 years." She laughed as she always does when I refer to time. It took me a while to get used to thinking of time as expansive instead of linear. Meshra and I had had many discussions about the nature of time. Sookie would come to understand it too. "Are you sure I haven't ruined our evening? You know that Pam is free to come and go as she pleases. I released her long ago and she chooses to stay with me. Pam has no feelings of romantic love for me, nor I for her."

"I know, honey. I know. It's hard to hear, I'm not going to lie. The thought of you being that crazy about her, and then when I saw her in your arms a few weeks back…."

"If it would make you happy, I would send her away. I don't want you to be uncomfortable with her around. Pam is a good employee, but you are far more important to me." I held up a strawberry and waited for her to eat it. Juice ran down her chin and I had to kiss her. She leaned into me as we kissed. We were so good together. I thought back to the night she'd walked into Fangtasia. I thought about the way the light struck her mouth and how I'd wanted to kiss her even though she was there with Bill.

"It's not necessary, I'll get over it. I'll just have to remind her that you're mine."

"I like the sound of that." I smiled at the thought of Sookie being protective of me. We had had such an unconventional courtship that there were things that we didn't get to experience together. There were so many things that I didn't know about her yet. But I would relish spending the time to find them out.

She studied me throughout the evening. A wash of uncertainty, happiness and curiosity flowed over me and I knew she was thinking about the things that I'd told her.

"So, do I have to worry that you have an ex-wife floating around? Maybe some previous Mrs. Northman that I've never known about?"

I had to laugh at the idea of some seventy or eighty year old woman being wheeled into Ravenwood to confront Sookie. I hadn't been involved with a human in at least that long. "No, I don't have any ex-wives. You're my second wife, and honestly, I didn't love Aude the way that I love you. Our relationship was one of necessity. I needed children to grow our tribe, she needed a husband so that our families would stay bonded. It wasn't like you and me. I can tell you with all honesty that I have never felt this way."

"Eric, I'm very flattered. I don't know what I did to make you love me, but I'm glad you do."

"You've given me my life back. How could I not love you more than anything in this world?" I pulled her to me and felt her in my head again. I was thinking of the moment I knew that I loved her.

"When did you know that you were in love with me?"

"You're going to think this is stupid."

"No I won't, I'm just curious. I was a little late to the party. I had feelings for you, but I couldn't put a name to them because I'd never felt this way before either. I didn't have somebody there telling me I was in love, I just knew that I couldn't stop thinking about you. Wondering what you were doing at that moment. Wondering what you would think about things. Hoping you'd be outside my bedroom window. If my Gran had been alive to make me see it for what it was, I'd have to say, Mr. Northman, I've been in love with you for quite some time."

I thought about how I would phrase it. It was such an awkward time.

"I--I told Pam the night we met that you were mine and that I had to find a way to get to know you. As for when did the lightning bolt hit me? When I zipped up that spandex jumpsuit and saw myself in the mirror. I knew at that moment that I was beyond a doubt messed up over you."

"Honey, that was a very long time ago."

"You're hard on men, Angel. I have to say, the number of men fighting for you in the past five years has been very interesting. I would think I had you, then, I had someone else to fend off. But I have you now, and you're mine."

She put her arms around my waist after I kissed her and we walked along the Seine. It felt good to be out with her. This could be our life together if she'd let me move her to Europe. She didn't have much family to keep her in Louisiana.

I led her to a bench and we sat down.

"Did you let Fallon know that I'd like to see her tomorrow night, since we had a date?"

"Oh yes, she was fine. She understood. I promised her I'd find her a nice Moroccan boy with type A blood." We watched the water splashing along the banks of the river and I wondered what she was thinking. She was so quiet suddenly that I hoped that she wasn't coming down with something. I saw her looking in the direction of the carousel, and I realized what had made her so quiet.

"What just happened?" I stared down at her and she welled up.

"It was stupid, nothing. Let's walk." And I knew that she was hearing the voices of children and realizing that we would never have one. I wanted her to have a child more than anything. I'd known the joy of watching my first wife's belly swell with my own children. Sookie would never know the pleasure of feeling a tiny being squirming in her abdomen. I wanted her to consider adoption, but I didn't think that she ever would. I took a deep breath and sighed, which seemed to push her over the edge. She began to cry softly, and I handed her my handkerchief. She took my hand and held it.

"Hey, don't, okay. Just don't. It's everything, it's hearing about Pam, it's being away from home, its jetlag, just don't."

I told her I was okay, but I didn't believe for a moment that her sadness had anything to do with Pam. I wished that I could make this better for her. I knew when she'd said that she wasn't sure that she wanted children that this conversation was coming. I stared out over the water thinking of the unfairness, the irony. I could give her everything in the world, absolutely everything including immortality, but I couldn't give her the one thing that she would want from me, a piece of myself that would be a part of her too. And while I didn't want to get mystical about what children meant, it did mean that some part of us would be united forever. "It doesn't have to be my child, Sookie."

"Please don't." When she began sobbing, I pulled her to my chest; I didn't try to stop her tears, she needed to cry. I just held her quietly by the river's edge.

After several minutes, she stopped crying and I could see that she was trying to shore herself up. I waited patiently while she gathered herself. She stood suddenly, and pulled me up to standing. I saw my handkerchief drop, but I thought it symbolic that we should leave the tears behind.

"Come, fly me to the Hotel de Londres Eiffel. I have something for you."

"You got us a room, you wonderful, wonderful girl."

I lifted her into my arms and sailed straight up. The hotel was a few blocks from where we stood, and within minutes, we were in our darkened room. Neither of us spoke. We didn't even turn on the lights. We just began kissing, slowly and with purpose. I slid her shawl off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. She unbuttoned my jacket and laid it across a chair. I bent to kiss her shoulder, kissing her softly, over and over again. She began to weep silently and I held her. She slid my shirt off and pressed her mouth to my chest. I felt her tears sliding down my stomach. I tilted her chin up towards me and stared at her in the moonlight that streamed in from the opened windows.

I kissed her, and held her cheeks in my hands as tears coursed down my cheeks to mingle with hers. A drop of blood fell onto her breasts and her breath caught. She realized then that I was crying too. I was crying for her and for the ache that would creep into her heart, poisoning her against me. I cried for the regret that she would experience and the longing that she would feel as she watched her friends children play.

She pulled me to her and we lay on the bed, naked except for our tears. I prayed silently as I entered her that if there was a god, some supreme being that hadn't yet given up on me, that he would let me find a way to give her my child. I begged and wished and hoped and prayed as we moved together slowly that I was not so damned, so undeserving of forgiveness that I could not ask for this one thing. I prayed silently as I gave myself to her that somehow, I would be forgiven, and that this act of love between the two of us would result in more than bloodied sheets.

I held her as she shook against me, and when we were finished, I heard her praying too.

I let her sleep for a long time while I stared out over Paris. It had been so long since I'd been home that I'd nearly forgotten the smells and the sounds. An ambulance went by, wailing fervently. Sookie stirred briefly then looked through the gauzy curtains at me. I didn't know to what degree my blood was improving her vision, but she seemed to see me clearly. I stepped out of the shadows and went to her side.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded slowly as if taking inventory of her physical condition. I laid my palm on her belly and kissed her. She nuzzled my neck and I lifted her up and carried her to the window.

"You see that building over there?"

"Which one, the one with the spire or the one with the widow's walk?"

"The one with the widow's walk." I pointed to where I was looking and she nodded again. If she could make out what I was talking about, her vision was drastically improving. "Marius and I spent a month there living with college students from the Sorbonne. They never knew we were vampires. They just thought we liked to get high and hang out all night."

"Can vampires get high?"

"No, but we always had marijuana to get them to relax so we wouldn't seem so strange. Marius and I would read their textbooks while they were passed out. We couldn't exactly go to college until schools developed distance learning and night classes. I learned organic chemistry and how much I don't like Heidegger in that apartment."

"Do you miss all the people who have come and gone through time? Were there some people who were just such good friends that you wanted to turn them to keep them around?"

I could tell that she was wondering if I would turn her against her will to keep her with me. I wanted her to know that I would never break my word to her. "There were a few humans over the decades that I enjoyed or even loved so much that I would have loved to keep them. But it wasn't what they wanted. I've always respected my friends because it's the right thing to do. And if they did want it, I asked that they seek out another vampire because I didn't want to be their maker. Nothing ruins relationships like becoming someone's maker. That's what Guillaume Montrachet did. He and I were best friends for a very long time in the 1800's. He couldn't travel the world the way that he wanted as a black man during that time. I told him that he should become vampire so that he could do whatever he liked. He asked Marius to be his maker and Marius obliged. He promptly released him from his service as a courtesy to me and because he likes Guillaume. Marius trained him until he could survive on his own, then Guillaume was free, and I've always been grateful to Marius for doing that."

"Marius isn't as bad as he likes to make out is he?"

"No, he's not, but don't let him fool you, he can certainly be a jerk when he wants."

"We all can. Don't be so hard on him."

"I suppose you're right." I felt her shiver and realized that she was cold. I retrieved the robe from the bathroom and wrapped her in it. I closed the windows and dressed while she watched me intently.

"So, Eric?"

"Yes?"

"This is our life now."

"Oui, madame. If you so desire."

"I like it." She smiled. "Except for one thing."

"What?"

"I would kill, I mean tear someone limb from limb for a bowl of strawberry ice cream."

I laughed at her seriousness, "Get dressed woman, I know a place." I tossed her dress to her and waited while she put it on.


	12. Chapter 12

The next night, I took Sookie to see Le Mariâge de Figaro at the Odeon. She couldn't quite grasp the story because it was in French, so I narrated it for her. During intermission, we enjoyed a quick toss and I was never so happy that I'd paid for a private box as I was watching her bite her fist trying not to cry out as I made love to her. When we were finished, she sat up and tidied her hair. I straightened my tie and glided into my seat. A few of the vampire attendees looked up at our box and I smiled at them. The humans never had any idea.

After the show, I whisked her out to the lobby and a young vampire approached Sookie as if he meant to request that I share. Oftentimes, if one vampire was older than another, he or she would bully the younger into paying for services, or giving up a human companion for a quick snack. The young vampire was eyeing Sookie as he began striding towards us. She excused herself to the restroom and I watched her go in case there was trouble. An older vampire pulled the younger one aside before he could reach me. I saw them whispering, and the young vampire bowed quickly. Instead of nodding, I walked over to them. The older vampire, who began to panic, spoke first as he bowed towards me.

"Mr. Northman, good evening to you sir. I am Gerard, this is Hewson. He is visiting from Ireland. He is unaware of your status and meant no offense at approaching your wife."

"I should hope not. I do not tolerate disrespect of any kind. Perhaps you should purchase a copy of the Vampire Who's Who in Paris."

"Yes, Master Eric. I shall make sure that my young friend has a copy and knows to whom he is speaking."

I nodded to both of them and walked out. I could hear Gerard scolding Hewson as I waited for Sookie out front. She bounded out smiling at our luck as rain streamed down. I'd worn a cape over my tuxedo and I draped it over her head. It was a warm rain that intensified the thick salt smell of the pavement, and the dank must of puffy Gauloise cigarette butts sliding into the sewer drains.

She did a little spin in the rain and I watched her.

"We could see if Fallon and Marius would want to come over since it's still early."

"They are already at Meshra's. Would you like to head home for an evening of boring stories and card games?" I hoped that she would.

"I would love it more than you know."

"Meshra is going to Malbec's later, she may not stay."

"If she doesn't, then we don't have to go to the hotel and we can be as loud as we like."

"Any louder and we'll have the police at our door." She did love to scream.

"It's hard to scream with your mouth full." She looked at me suggestively and I was taken aback.

"Fair enough."

I stopped at a kiosk and bought her a bottle of water. Sookie was not in the habit of drinking water and I had to make her drink as often as I could if she were to continue allowing me to sip from her. Though I would need to visit one of the blood merchants soon.

We rounded the corner and stopped at the front door.

"Eric, did you ever in your wildest dreams think that you'd be bringing a wife back to this apartment when you were living here?"

"No way. I never thought I'd get married. I had no intention of ever marrying. But, Meshra was right yet again." I pulled her arm back just before we went inside. "You know, there is still time for us to stop at the Hotel Londres before we go in there." She'd intrigued me with her suggestion.

"You! You're so bad. Wasn't the theater enough?"

"It's never enough. And can you blame me? Look at you." I pulled her over to the glass of Madame Auberge's café and showed her our reflections. She smiled brightly and leaned her head against me. "Come on, we'll stop in and say hello."

Marius stood as we entered the apartment. He greeted Sookie by bowing deeply and kissing her hand. She lifted him to standing and gave him a quick hug, then joined Fallon on the couch. Fallon was thumbing through a _Paris Match_ and drooling over pictures of Johnny Depp. I joined Marius at the bar as he refilled his glass.

"Where's Meshra?"

"She and Lisette are in Meshra's room. You know how mother feels about blood substitutes."

"I do." We stood awkwardly for a few minutes before I engaged him again.

"So, how is the movie business these days?"

"Things have been good. I have two new features coming out this year. One of which is sure to take the Palme D'Or. I have a producing credit on another film due next year and I'm in talks with Tarantino about directing a vampire-human buddy film with a horror slant. "

"I saw _All's Fair_ last year. Guillaume was brilliant in it. I've seen all of your movies, you know."

"Thank you. I'd been meaning to send you screening copies before they come out, but I wasn't sure if you were interested after our last bit of bad business."

"Hmm." I bit my lip and began to walk away but he stopped me.

"Eric. Please. I want to apologize. Won't you let me?"

"Marius, let's just try to stay civil while Sookie and I are here."

"I'd like more than that." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I miss my little brother. I fucked up and I'm really sorry."

"Thank you." I looked down at my glass then across at him. He seemed sincere, but he always seemed sincere. Right up until he dug in again with the insults.

"Eric, I mean it. I will apologize to Pam, but I need to apologize to you first and foremost. Will you forgive me? Not just to keep the peace, but because I have missed you. I want to be able to call you, or come see you and I hate that you worry if I will be here before you stop by. We used to be so close, can't we get past this?"

I nodded and he hugged me to his chest. He seemed genuinely happy and I felt bad suddenly that I'd held a grudge for so long. I hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, M, I've missed you too."

Meshra came out of her bedroom with Lisette. Lisette looked a little pale, and Meshra looked flushed and pink. I was hungry, very hungry suddenly. Marius seemed to notice and pulled me aside.

"Eric, Pen and Rebecca are back at my place, would you like to come have a drink. I live around the corner, we could be there in a minute or so."

"Uh, Let me talk to Sookie, all right?" I didn't want Sookie to think that I was rushing off to spend time with another woman, but I needed to eat and soon.

"How is she taking the blood thing? I mean, you having to dine from other women besides her?"

"She and I haven't had that conversation yet. But I'm sure she must realize that I cannot survive by drinking her blood alone. It doesn't mean I have to flaunt it, though."

"Would you like me to talk to her?"

"No, M, I should be the one. Would you mind waiting for me?"

"I will."

I walked over to Sookie as she and Fallon circled dresses that they liked in Italian Vogue. She and Fallon had their heads together as they laughed and snickered. I heard something about my ass, and a certain painting.

"Angel, I need to speak with you for a minute. Fallon, may I borrow your playmate?"

"Of course, Eric."

I took Sookie by the hand and led her to Meshra's office.

"What's up, honey? You look as if you have bad news." She sat on the couch and I sat down next to her.

"No, nothing like that. It's that Marius and I need to eat. Would you mind if I left you here for half an hour or so?" She looked down, saddened that I had to leave her.

"If you'd like to, I don't mind if you have a drink from me."

"Angel," I took her hand in mine and kissed it. She could be so sweet, and she really was trying to be accommodating. "As much as I would love to drink every drop of your delicious blood, I cannot jeopardize your health. I need to drink deeply. I'm going to Marius's to eat, and then I won't have to eat quite so much over the next few days."

"Okay." She nodded as if she was trying to convince herself. "I'll be fine. Meshra and Fallon will keep me company. I can handle you being gone for half an hour."

"You want to talk about it when I get back?"

"Honey, it's not necessary. I know that this is not optional for you, this is just like you going through the drive-thru at McDonald's."

"It's a little bit different, you must admit. I have to interact with a person in order to drink blood from them. If you would prefer, I can drink from a male instead of a female."

"Would that make you uncomfortable?"

"It would make me more uncomfortable if I thought that you were upset. I can take blood from either. Yes, I have a preference, but I don't want to upset you. At all. Just promise me that if you are concerned that we will talk about it."

"I promise, love." I sensed her hesitation.

"Sookie, would you feel more comfortable coming with me? That would be really hot."

"I don't want you to think that I'm insecure. I can handle you going with Marius to eat." She leaned over and kissed my cheek. My appetite diminished a little thinking of her sitting here while I feasted. "But…."

"But what, Lover?"

"Can you try not to enjoy it so much? I mean the arousal part. I know that we hadn't talked about this but…."

"Sookie, if you come with me, I will focus only on you. I will not think about anyone else. Then, perhaps we can do something about the arousal?"

"Or, you can go eat and spend time with your brother."

"Or, I can share my dinner with my beautiful wife and honor her by being as faithful as I can."

"Eric. Honey, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't want to leave. Fallon and I were having a really good time. Go."

"Are you sure?"

"Now who's being insecure? Just hurry back, okay?"

"I promise, Angel. I won't stay long." I stood and kissed the top of her head. Marius was waiting in the foyer.

"I take it you heard." I took my key from the rack and shoved my hands into my pockets. Meshra waved as we walked out.

"I tried not to listen in. I respect your privacy. She is an exceptional girl. I would really enjoy the merest drop of her blood if you wouldn't mind."

"Sookie wouldn't want that, Marius. But if she changes her mind, I promise that you will be the first to know." We walked out onto the street and turned left towards St. Etienne. Gaudeamus was doing a brisk business this evening and the streets were filled with tourists. Summer in Paris was one of my favorite times and places ever. "Tell me, are you and Fallon still living together?"

"Yes, I prefer to keep an eye on her, and it gives her a measure of freedom to not live with Meshra. We're just around the block at 50 Rue Descartes."

"Oh, above the pharmacy. Cute area. When did you move?"

"About six years ago. It's near to Meshra, and yet, not so close that she drops by unannounced. There is nothing worse than entertaining a snack and having your mother drop by for a bite."

"No, there is nothing worse. So, do Penelope and Rebecca live with you?"

"No, but what's going on with you and Penelope? She won't stop talking about you."

"There is nothing going on with me. I only glamoured her a little to get her to relax, you know how I hate scared blood."

"She's definitely into you. You could have her while you're here. I would not mind." He slowed to gauge my reaction and I shook my head.

"That's not necessary. If I were single, I would take you up on the offer, but I would never do that to Sookie."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have offered. I'm not someone who can be faithful, so I have to remind myself that I am being disrespectful. Scusi."

"It's okay, M. Monogamy is a bit of a human concept anyway. I wouldn't have considered it an option for me either, until I met Sookie. Now, I don't want to do anything that would ruin that. I mean, have you had any trouble with Rebecca and Pen fighting over your time?" We turned down Place de Geneviéve and cut across as we had when I lived here with them.

"No. Quite frankly, they entertain each other when I am away."

"Oh. Very nice arrangement for you."

"I always have a nice arrangement. What is it like in Louisiana? Everyone says, oh, you must see the Quartier Latin, or drink from the Creole women. Am I missing out on something?"

"No, no. There is nothing there. It was as close to France as I could get in the US, but I wouldn't make a special trip. If you're coming to see me and Sookie, well, that is a different story." My phone rang and I recognized the number even though I'd deleted her contact information. I let it ring.

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"I don't think so."

"Hmmm. I can tell by the look on your face that there is something there. Perhaps this human faithfulness is very, very new to you."

"It's complicated. She's in love with me. I care about her, but it's not love. I wanted to fuck her, I won't lie. I really did, and I came close while Sookie and I were separated. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"You and Sookie were apart?"

"We separated in October. We've only been back together a few weeks."

"That's awful. Do you mind if I ask why?"

"She was afraid of where things were going, I guess. She was taken from me and brutalized. It's a long story. I don't want to think about it anymore. But she blamed me, and I couldn't defend myself against the charge because ultimately, I should have tried to protect her but I thought I was doing her a favor by saving a tiny cousin of hers, she has so few relations as it is. It truly is a long story. But suffice it to say that she did not think me capable of being in love."

"She didn't know you very well then. Of all the vampires I know, save Meshra, you are the kindest and most loving."

"Do not start that shit."

"I'm serious. You've always been very sweet. Meshra did a good job raising you. That is why you rescued her cousin. You knew that the child was important to her. I am proud of you."

"And now it's awkward."

"It's not awkward. We're family. I can say what I like. I am proud of you, I love you very much."

"Oh, great. Here it comes, the great Italian outpouring of love. What's with you Romans? You're supposed to be so fearsome, and yet all you do is talk about love, love, love."

"What's with you Vikings? I tell you, we had a saying in Rome when I was younger. Vikings invented sex, God bless them. But Romans invented sex with women."

"Ha, Ha. You Romans were a close bunch of boys too, let's not forget the Legions."

"I'm not disputing that. But I can say I love you to my brother without it being weird. That's all I'm saying."

"And now, just because you said that, it's weird."

We climbed the stairs quickly. I was ravenous and could hardly wait to drink. Penelope and Rebecca were ready when we entered. Neither wore any clothes and Pen hugged me tightly as I came in.

"Eric, Eric, I'm so glad that you came. I have been drinking water all day hoping that you would want me again."

"Pen, I must make you understand. I don't mean anything by it. I need you to see that you are food to me. I know that it sounds awful. I am not rejecting you as a person. It's just that you are but an interesting chicken. If you find that too demoralizing, I understand. But you cannot be anything more to me."

She turned her head and nodded slowly. The four of us went into Marius's bedroom.

"Besides, you are Marius's and I would never try to take you from him."

She nodded again and drew her hand down her neck so that I could see her pulse quicken. I felt myself stiffen with what little blood I had left in me. I kissed her and she melted into my arms.

"Oh, Eric." She moaned into my mouth as we sat down on the bed and Marius pulled Rebecca to him.

I licked Penelope's neck from her shoulder to her ear. It would be easiest to hold her in the swan position, with her back to my chest and my arm across her breasts. I moved her hair aside and sank my fangs into her neck. She cried out, a rich, guttural sound that I'd heard from thousands of women. Her blood spurted into my mouth and it was all I could do to not take my own clothing off. Marius and Rebecca were making love as he drank from her, and Penelope begged me to do the same. I covered her mouth with my hand to get her to shut up as I concentrated on Sookie. I drank quickly, and as soon as I was full, I lifted Penelope from my lap and placed her on the bed beside Marius. Marius kissed her and pulled her to him. She stared at me as he entered her. I watched the three of them for a few moments, but decided it was best that I go back to Meshra's to see Sookie as soon as I could.

By air, it was a 45 second flight. I landed in front of Meshra's and ran up the stairs. Sookie and Fallon were still reading magazines when I threw the door open. I felt Sookie in my head and I let her see how much I needed her then. She stood and ran to my side giggling. We excused ourselves to our bedroom and within minutes, I had her naked on the bed.

"What happened?"

"I need you. We don't need to talk. Just let me have you, now."

"Of course."

My need for her was so urgent that I was rougher than I'd ever been. She didn't seem to mind, but she definitely sensed that I was in turmoil. Afterwards, she stared up at me curiously.

"Are you attracted to her?"

"To whom?"

"To the woman you drank from? Is that why you---"

"I promised you that I wouldn't lie to you. I promised. There is always an attraction. It is the blood that attracts me. Yes, it makes me sexually aroused, but I came home to be with you. I wanted and needed only you. Do not ever doubt that."

"Okay."

"Sookie, please. You know that I am in love with you and only you."

"I know that. It's still hard."

"I swear to you, for the rest of the time here in France, I will drink blood substitutes."

"That's not necessary. Besides, you never get like this from drinking Royalty."

"I'm sorry I was rough. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Yes, you did. And I loved it."

"Enough to go again?"

"Yes, please, thank you." She giggled softly and I rolled her over.

Afterwards, while Sookie was napping, I showered, dressed in jeans and t-shirt and went out into the salon. Meshra was reading and Fallon was playing her cello. I sat down next to Meshra on the sofa and she kissed my cheek. Fallon's playing was so incredible that I often thought that I should give it up entirely. The cello gleamed as if it was new, and she moved her hands like alabaster birds, fluttering up and down the neck. I marveled at the beautiful woodwork and the fine sound emanating from the hollows.

When she slowed, we clapped for her. She bowed her head graciously and began playing quietly. We slipped comfortably back to French when Sookie was absent which I always found interesting given that none of us was originally from France.

"The prince arises. Hello, Son. Where is your lovely princess?"

"Asleep for a bit. She keeps different hours than we, mother. Has Marius returned?" I looked around briefly, but didn't sense his presence. Fallon put down her bow and turned to me.

"He is on his way. He just called not five minutes ago. He wants to hear all about this plan mom has to move Malbec in here. As if he would ever be comfortable on this side of Paris."

"Or anywhere outside of his dodgy, threadbare shift at Plâce de Thorigny."

Meshra slammed her book.

"You two stop, he is a good friend. He can't help it that his funds have…. diminished."

"Oh Mother, you are being too kind. It isn't only his funds that have diminished."

Fallon laughed aloud and Meshra slapped my hand.

"Oh, come now, it really isn't that bad. I mean…He's….But….Oh Hell, who am I kidding? He's a doddering old fool, but he means well and honestly, he's finished in just under two minutes or so, if you count the foreplay."

"Ewwww, Mom. Stop." Fallon got up and took her cello down the hall. Marius came in and closed the door behind him.

"Allo? Maman? C'est-moi. There you guys are. Eric, you should have stayed a while longer. Penelope was all over me tonight and it's because of you. She's absolutely smitten, so thank you for that."

"Glad I could be of service."

"Where's Sookie? Asleep?"

"Yes. Which I must say is the only downside to having a human wife. But I'll wake her soon and we can grab a drink at Gaudeamus before she retires for the evening. It's only coming up on one. Feel free to join us if you'd like."

"I will. So, Meshra, you are turning this place into a honeymoon suite for Lord Winthrop Malbec and yourself. What is that all about?"

"I don't want to hear any more about this. You kids are the worst. Did you ever think that maybe I'm lonely while you three are out with your blood whores and lovers?"

Fallon came out of her bedroom and kissed Marius on each cheek. He kissed her back and she shook her head disapprovingly.

"Rebecca is wearing my perfume again. Marius, you told me you would ask her to stay out of my things, I pay a lot for my fragrances. Tell your girlfriend to get a job, lazy bitch."

"Fal—I'm insulted. She is not a lazy bitch. She liked it so much that I bought it for her as a gift. She hasn't been in your things."

"So she just wants to smell like me? That's not creepy. Get some originality. Tell her to get her own damned fragrance."

"You brat. You just don't like that I have a girlfriend."

"Cause she's always there. Even Penelope has the good sense to have somewhere to be every other day. Rebecca is a class A mooch." She rolled her eyes at Marius and looked over at me.

"Well, get your own damned place, then."

"Wait, WHAT? I wanted to get my own place, you said, no, it wasn't safe. You said we should nest together so Mom wouldn't worry. I think you don't want to live alone. You big baby."

"You're wrong kid. I keep you there to drain the mice."

"Mom! Are you going to let him talk to me like that? You know I have an eating disorder. Son of a whore." Meshra stood suddenly.

"Fallon! I will not tolerate that kind of talk in my home."

"I'm sorry, Maman. I did not mean to insult the diseased womb that he sprang from. Whoever the wretched mortal was." Meshra dropped her book on the table and stormed out. I looked at them both.

"Well…what the fuck was that all about?"

Marius sat down next to me on the couch. "Just forget about it. You know that mother is sensitive about us fighting. Fallon, if you would like to move out of my apartment, I would be sad, but I would let you live on your own."

"Ooh, you'd let me move out. Fine, whatever, I just may. Except that I love the view."

"Fallon, you are welcome to come live with Sookie and me in Louisiana if you are so inclined. You can have your own apartment within Ravenwood."

"I just might. If my doctor allows me to travel." She stuck her tongue out at Marius and he got up to pour himself a glass of Royalty. As he walked by Fallon, he pulled her hair and she punched him.

"I'm going to wake Sookie, would either of you care to join us downstairs?"

Fallon shook her head and got her jacket.

"Not tonight, I think I'll go home and rid the house of rodents."

"I didn't mean it." Marius gave Fallon a playful shove and she smiled at him. There was something in the way that they looked at each other.

"You're a jackass. Walk me home."

"Eric, I will meet you two downstairs in an hour. I promise I will not bring my lazy bitch girlfriend or the one who is crazy about you."

"I'd appreciate that. Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

He pushed his hair back from his forehead and took a deep breath. I suspected that he knew what I wanted to talk about.

"Yes. Hold on, okay? Fallon? Wait for me on the steps, Eric needs something."

She called from the hall.

"Hurry it up, Marius."

"I will. Just wait for me."  
I closed the door behind him and gestured for him to sit. We needed to be out of Meshra's earshot, so I kept my voice very low.

"Marius, I feel really bad asking you this again. But I have to know----"

"Eric, she's our sister."

"I know, but she's not your biological sister, and not only that, she wasn't always your vampire sister. It's not any of my business what's happened between you two, but, the rumors and quite honestly, the way the two of you are together. I hate to ask, did you guys, I mean at any time have you ever…"

"I want to tell you this, and I want this to be the last time that this issue comes up, because I am so tired of defending us. Eric, please hear me when I say, that at no time, have Fallon and I ever engaged in any sort of sexual activity that didn't involve us eating together. Yes, we have shared a human together, but no more than the way that we all do. We have kissed when eating. We have held hands while eating. I have only loved her, cared for her, and sheltered her as a brother. At times, I have been a father to her when she was terrified and Meshra was grieving for my father. I know how it looks, and that is why the rumors have persisted. She is beautiful, and frail and she relies on me very heavily. She also tends to use her sexuality to feel better about herself, but I give you my word as a Roman Legionnaire, as a brother, as a vampire, she and I have never done anything. I'm sorry that you have had to defend us to other vampires because I have heard the stories too. But my word is my bond and you know that."

The one thing that I could count on in this world was that if Marius gave me his word, he meant it. And he would die before he would invoke his sworn oath to the Roman Legion even though he was probably the last Legionnaire in all the world. I was suddenly very embarrassed that I had brought it up again.

"Marius, I'm really sorry. I'm a jerk and I shouldn't have said anything at all. I know better than to believe rumors."

"It's understandable, but I would never take advantage of her. Never. That child needs us, and whether she is 1300 years old, or 5000, she is still but a child mentally and emotionally and she will always need one of us to protect her. I've accepted that it will probably always be me. And it's okay. She is good company."

"Sookie and I can help you with her. Send her to America to live with us."

"I don't want her to feel as if I'm sending her away. It needs to be her decision."

Marius and I heard Meshra crying in her room and we walked down the hall. I knocked on the door softly, wondering what had upset her so. She didn't tell us to come in so we stood outside of her door.

"Mother, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just need a few minutes alone with Marius."

Marius stepped to the door. "Mother, I am here. Eric, would you mind walking Fallon home while I talk with mom?"

"Not at all. Tell her that I love her, okay."

"I heard you, dear. I love you too."

Marius went into her room and I heard her sob. It was not uncommon for Meshra to be reminded of her grief. In these times, it seemed that Marius was the only one who could comfort her. I thought that perhaps it was because he was as close to Titus as she could get since he had been killed. I gave them their space and went down the stairs to walk Fallon home.

"What happened to Marius?"

"Mom is crying, she wanted to talk to him."

"Oh, crap. It's my fault isn't it?" She gets like that when I remind her about….things. Sometimes, I think she wishes that she was our real mom, you know. Like maybe she is sad that she never had any children of her own."

"She knows that we love her. I'm actually much closer to her than I ever was to my own mother. My biological mother concerned herself with her tasks. There wasn't the nurturing that we've gotten from Meshra."

"You have no idea. My mother and father were the worst ever. I don't even want to talk about how bad they were."

I put my arm around her as we walked. I could have flown her home, but it was such a lovely evening that we enjoyed a quiet walk under the stars.

"Fallon, I know how much Paris means to you, but would you ever consider coming to stay with Sookie and me for a while?"

"I could never leave Meshra, Eric, she needs us. She has been desperately lonely for you, and with you in America, it's awful. Tell me something, do you imagine that you and Sookie will adopt children? That would mean a lot to Meshra to have a sweet child about. And I want to be the best Auntie ever."

"We are open to the possibilities; whatever the future holds for us. We really haven't been together all that long."

"It is only my selfish desires talking. I would love to have another Northman running about."

"Yes, that would be lovely wouldn't it?" We stopped in front of their building and I kissed her hand. "Consider yourself escorted home, my dear sister."

"Eric, I really like Sookie. She's so much fun, and I've missed having a sister more than you can know. Not that you and Marius weren't the very best brothers ever, it's just that, well, you've had the experience of having one of each. When I was alive, I only had sisters, so for the last 1300 years, I've been utterly alone in matters feminine." She noted my changed expression.

"There are some things a girl cannot tell her mother."

"I know, I know. So pretty girl, are we on for tomorrow night?"

"I would love to take you guys over to my shop and let Sookie pick out some clothes. It would be my wedding gift to her. If you don't mind that I only give you yet another oil painting." She climbed two steps but turned around and looked over her shoulder at me. Her flame red hair blew softly around her face.

"I'm running out of wall space, wherever am I to display yet another oil painting?"

"I'm kidding. I got you the most exquisite cello that I have ever been able to find. I was playing it earlier to break in the bow for you."

"Fallon, are you serious? You can't give that to me. It _is_ exquisite and you are the best player that I have ever known, you should keep it for yourself."

"No, I bought it for you. You are really good too. You just don't give yourself enough credit. I hoped that you would like it. Tell me you like it?"

"I love it, I can't believe that you are giving it to me. Thank you Fallon, Thank you very much."

"Eric, I love you and I have missed you so much."

"I love you too." I climbed the two steps and kissed her cheek. "Are you sure you won't join us at Gaudeamus?"

"No, no, I have a big night planned. You boys enjoy yourselves, I will join you tomorrow night."

Marius came around the corner very quickly and I could tell that his conversation with Meshra had shaken him. I took him aside as Fallon dug in her bag for her keys.

"You okay?"

"I am. But I will skip going out with you two tonight if you don't mind."

"What happened?"

"It's the usual. Meshra is wishing that things had been different. She is wishing that my father was alive. I feel awful for her that her two best friends are dead and gone and she sees herself as a widow with three children who have moved on. She is lonely and wants some friends. She asked me if I would make someone so that she would have a companion. You know that she cannot turn anyone, right?"

"I suspected as much, but I wasn't sure. She's really lonely enough to have responsibility for a new vampire for the next ten years?"

Fallon pushed her hair out of her face as she turned towards us.

"What are ten years when you're five thousand? I just feel really bad that I've been so preoccupied with my life that I forget that we are all she has left in this world. When you think of it that way, it is really overwhelming. We can make companions at will, but if we chose to leave her, she would have nothing."

I looked at Marius as he began ascending the stairs.

"Hey, why can't she turn anyone, do you happen to know?"

"All I know is that she is some sort of magical being similar to an angel. Her blood creates life rather than destroying it. You know that our blood destroys the organs and tissues; It causes cellular death. But our magic re-animates us. Her blood cannot destroy, only give life. She is truly immortal and no amount of silver would ever harm her. She only stays out of the sun because it would burn her horribly, but would not destroy her. She would be disfigured, but she would continue to live. She cannot die, and that is what is so heartbreaking. If you or I chose to meet the sun, at least we know that there is always that possibility. She does not have that option."

"You're right, that is horrible. I hadn't considered that." We stood silently for a moment, considering our mother's existence. Fallon shifted from one foot to the other, and I decided to let them go upstairs. I shook Marius's hand and patted him on the back. "Please come over tomorrow night, Sookie will be sorry that she missed you both."

"I promise, we will be there. Bonne nuit."

"Bonne nuit." I lifted into the air slowly as I watched Marius let Fallon in to their building. She'd misplaced her key again. I smiled that some things never changed.

When I arrived at Meshra's, Sookie and Meshra were sitting on the floor and Meshra was braiding Sookie's long blond hair into a golden rope piled high on her head and held with combs that were adorned with glimmering green scarab beetles.

"Hey honey. You look pretty worn out."

"I'm fine. How was your nap?" I noticed that she was wearing a black suit jacket with no blouse underneath, jeans and boots. My mother's and sister's influence no doubt. She looked delicious, and I told her so as I kissed her head.

"I think I'm finally getting over my jet-lag. We're going downstairs right?" She looked up at me expectantly and I nodded.

"Yes, I just need to check out something. When you're finished, come into our room."

"Haven't you had enough yet?"

"That is not why I want you to come to our room. I want to show you the wedding present that Fallon got for me."

Meshra stood and handed Sookie her brush. Sookie gave her a quick hug and then she squeezed Meshra's hands. I was glad that they were getting along so well.

"Fallon was so proud to get that for you, Eric, she had it overnighted from Austria and when I saw it, I knew that you would just fall in love."

"It is a beautiful instrument. I wish I could do it justice."

"Son, you simply must get over this low opinion of yourself."

I thought Sookie would pass out from the shock.


	13. Chapter 13

It rained for several nights in a row, and we spent the evenings playing chess where we each took turns letting Sookie win. Except for Meshra, who could not stand to be beaten at anything.

We spent two weeks with Meshra, Marius and Fallon as I reconnected with my family and Sookie enjoyed having a family. We laughed together, played together and solidified our marriage. In the evenings when we made love, I wondered if she noticed that she was enjoying biting me as much as I enjoyed biting her. I was unsure if she was becoming dependent upon the blood, so I advised her to slow her consumption. And while it seemed that she was not quite so dependent, she did seem to become shaky when she didn't have it.

Sookie and I would enjoy a final week in France on the southeastern coast near Italy. Guillaume Montrachet had secured tickets for us to attend His Serene Highnesses Monagasque Masque, and I wanted to introduce Sookie to the last of my French friends before we headed back to Bon Temps to settle in to married life. I wondered what sorts of things she would choose to fill her day as I didn't believe that it would be possible for her to go back to being a waitress.

I left the apartment early and shopped for fresh vegetables and a cut of beef that I could make into a stew for Sookie's dinner. Fallon left a recipe for me to follow, and it would be a sweet surprise for her. As I squeezed tomatoes and bent carrots, I drew stares from the local shoppers who wondered at the vampire buying human food, especially given that it wasn't completely dark. I stopped at Gaudeamus and got a bottle of chardonnay from Mrs. Auberge and she winked at me. She told her daughter that she shouldn't settle for anyone until she had love like what Sookie and I had. I smiled at her daughter, Félice and made her blush. The girl was all of fourteen human years.

Bobby was driving Sookie and Lisette across the French countryside today to let them get some sunshine, and to take Lisette home to see her mother for the day. When they came home, I poured a glass of wine for Sookie as Bobby carried her things into our bedroom.

Marius came in and kissed Sookie at the door. I was glad that he respected her enough to stop badgering her about her blood, but I knew that a part of him would just wait for the right moment. He sat down on the settée next to Meshra and she ran her fingers through his hair as she sipped at a glass of Royalty.

Fallon ran in as frazzled as she ever was. I could tell that she did not want us to leave France. She'd begun dropping hints about us staying for the last several days. Meshra seemed to be preparing her for our departure, but I didn't think my sister quite understood that we weren't going to remain like this forever.

As Meshra lit candles, and put Stan Getz on the stereo, we gathered around her as we had for the last several nights. When we'd first settled in to Paris, Marius, Fallon and I had sat together with Meshra, recounting our adventures in our newly adopted home. We'd lived in so many other places together and yet, none of them had ever seemed like home. Paris gave us all a sense of belonging. The French people were so accepting of us that I couldn't believe that more Vampires didn't live here.

Sookie scooped up the last bit of stew and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. She smiled and thanked me for making her dinner, which I was proud to say I was able to make in record time, despite the mishaps with knives and peelers and various other kitchen implements that Lisette used when entertaining Meshra's human colleagues from the Sorbonne. Meshra took Sookie's hand and we all turned towards her.

"Darling daughter, I want you to have this. It looks more magnificent on you than it ever looked on me, and I just want you to know that I love you. I wish you and Eric a happy life together." She handed Sookie the four-carat diamond necklace that had been her wedding gift from Titus. I knew that my mother was letting go of a very painful past and was trying to move forward.

Sookie looked rueful, as if it was just hitting her that we were leaving soon.

"Thank you, Meshra. I will take great care of it, and if you ever decide that you want it back, I can ship it."

"No, it is yours, dear. I wouldn't have it any other way." Meshra leaned over and kissed Sookie's cheeks. Sookie's eyes welled with tears.

"I'm really going to miss you guys." She blinked quickly and I could hear her swallow. I was sorry to be taking her away from Meshra's wonderful affections. It had been so long since anyone had given her maternal love.

"Cara mia, we can come to visit you, provided the Sheriff, as you Americans call them, will permit me to enter your area." He winked at me then, and I smiled. Marius thought it was funny that I had taken a position as sheriff in Louisiana, given the fact that I could be royalty if I enforced the vampire code in America. Part of me enjoyed the anonymity, but I would never put myself in a position of being beholden to someone lesser than me unless I absolutely could not avoid it, which was the case with Sophie-Anne Le Clerq and now Felipe De Castro.

"You can come any time you want, but you will have to do at least three nights work at Fangtasia." I couldn't imagine my brother doing anything but holding court at Fangtasia, but it would be such a draw for the club to have him sitting on a throne next to mine. We could be the twin gods yet again. I smiled at the prospect.

"Alas, it has been a pleasure knowing you but I cannot do that."

Fallon was clearly agitated and was trying desperately to gain Sookie's attention. When Sookie finally did look up, Fallon confirmed what I suspected the whole evening, she didn't want us to leave. She and Sookie disappeared into the kitchen. Marius looked over at me.

" Fallon has been upset all evening. You coming home has been good for her, do you have to go so soon?"

"Well, not really, but we have been taking up all of your free time the last three weeks, surely you have some business, especially with your film so close to being finished."

"I can afford to take a vacation. She is desperately sad that you will be leaving, I haven't seen her like this in a very long time."

"No, neither have I." Meshra bit her thumbnail. "Eric, would it be all right if she came home with you? I can arrange for her travel if you need me to."

"No, mom, I would take care of it, but she is insisting that if she comes to America that one of you must come with her. I know that you're both in the middle of projects and can't leave."

"My book is nearly completed. I can write anywhere, though." I looked at the kitchen door and heard Fallon sobbing. My heart was breaking for my older sister. She had such a giving heart, yet was so messed up inside. Marius turned to me again.

"I will be finished filming by the end of the month, I can escort her to America, but I can't stay until mid-June when the second team goes into post-production. Meshra, would you consider going?"

"Of course, but I'm wondering if it might be healthier if we just send her with you Eric. She has to stop being so reliant upon you, Marius."

"I don't mind. She needs me. I know that things have been hard for her."

I laughed at that, how hard had her life been? She'd always had designer clothing, designer handbags and shoes. She attended college at the Sorbonne, hosted dinner parties for friends of Meshra and Marius. And while she didn't seem to have very many friends of her own, her life was charmed. She never lifted a finger to take care of herself. Meshra had been providing for her every need for centuries.

"Why is that funny, son?" Meshra's brows knitted together.

"I just don't understand why she is so coddled. She is such a brat sometimes, and yet we entertain her with this stupid eating disorder nonsense and her sexual deviance. I just don't understand why we don't just call her on it and be done with it. If it were either of us, you would have told us to grow the hell up and quit being babies."

"Eric, you watch what you say about her. She is far more fragile than you will ever know. That is why I treat her the way that I do. That is why I baby her so. Don't act as if you didn't get your fair share of my affection. I did the best I could for each of you."

"I'm only saying that maybe she should stop acting as if she is truly sixteen and begin looking for her own apartment, take a lover. Hell, become a maker. She could use the responsibility that it would bring."

"Brother, she would be horrific at being a maker. Can you see her wilting at the first sign of insolence? It would be impossible to distinguish her child from her. No, Fallon is never going to be able to be completely independent. She has had too many traumas in her life."

"As if we all haven't been through terrible things." I stood up to go into the kitchen, but Meshra stopped me.

"Eric, you have to change the way that you treat her, I really cannot tolerate you being so mean to her."

"I'm only saying that she works this so called medical condition to gain sympathy from us all. I just want her to start being held accountable in the same way that you hold us accountable." Marius shook his head and Meshra threw up her hands. I didn't understand their frustration with me. "Is there something I don't know about Fallon? You are both behaving very strangely suddenly." I grabbed Marius's arm and he looked at Meshra. She shook her head at him. Sookie was overwhelmed and I felt my heart lurch. I went into the kitchen where Sookie was holding Fallon. When I walked in, they were both so upset that I put my arms around them both.

"What's going on, Angel?"

"Fallon's been telling me about how she came to live with Meshra. She's pretty upset. I'm thinking she may need your mom."

"No, no, I'm okay." She sobbed. "I-I," Sookie stepped aside and I pulled Fallon to my chest. I hadn't seen her like this since we were on the _Libertine_. I whispered into her ear, "Shhh, Fallon, What's the matter?"

Why can't I remember? What happened when you came to live with us?" She looked so sad and lost that I wanted to look her in the eyes. I wiped them for her.

"Appius had to leave, remember? His maker was killed and he went to council in Germany to appeal to them to avenge his maker's murder."

I felt Marius entering the room. He and Sookie exchanged a glance.

"That's not what happened at all. We didn't tell you any of this because it was mostly your fault." Marius pulled Fallon away from me and into his arms.

"My fault how?" I was sick of being blamed for her behavior, this was why I had left France.

"The things that happened to her. They were because of that demon father of yours. If you'd never come to live with us, this wouldn't have happened."

I followed him into the salon as he pulled Fallon away.

"My father has absolutely nothing to do with her being fucked up, and you know it."

"He has everything to do with it. You don't know what he did to her before you were even born. He raped her and stole her child, Eric."

"And no one thought to tell me any of this? No one cared enough to tell me that my maker had done these things to my sister?"

"Have you ever given any thought as to why she is the way she is? No, you haven't. You took off to America and left her with us. You've been off playing Sheriff while Meshra and I worry every evening that she is becoming more and more self-destructive. I wish mother had had the guts to kill you."

I was surprised that Marius had said what I'd suspected for centuries. He wished I was dead. And in that moment, I wondered if I would ever be able to forgive him. I felt a deep surge of sadness hit me and I realized that Sookie had followed us.

"Try it now, Marius if you want me dead. Be a man and do it yourself."

"Fuck you, I have to take care of our sister."

"Oh, you're such a fucking martyr. She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, you two baby her and won't let her grow up."

"Stop it! Stop yelling. I hate when the two of you fight. You're just alike. Neither of you cares what is really wrong with me. Eric, you think it is funny that I cannot eat. You mock me with your eye rolling and your jokes. And Marius, he's right. Stop treating me as if I am a doll. I want to be a grown up woman. I want to find love, and I want to be on my own. You are both suffocating me with your egos. I cannot stand it anymore. I can't stand that I can't remember and I can't stand that I can't forget!"

I heard Meshra coming and I regretted that our fight had gotten so out of hand. She didn't deserve such unruly children as us. I turned to take Sookie's hand. We would leave France tonight and I would never return.

"What is going on in here? Someone tell me maintenant."

"Meshra, c'est les même…toujours. Tu sais, maman. Tu sais…" As I explained to Meshra that it is always the same thing, I sat Sookie down on the floor. I owed my mother an explanation for why we would never be coming back here. Sookie respectfully offered to leave, but I held her fast. Since I'd had her blood, there was no way that I would have the emotional strength to endure time alone with them. Meshra asked Sookie to stay, and I took her hand. Sookie kissed my hand and held it to her cheek. She could sense that I was devastated.

"My children, how I have worked to shield you from these awful things. We should have dealt with this sooner, perhaps. But here we are. I have resisted telling you these things, hoping they would sort themselves out, but alas, they have not. I did what I did because I love you." She looked at her children, as she spoke. "I have loved each and every one of you, so much. I was angry when Titus turned you Fallon, but I was angry with myself, not him. I had sworn to you on my honor that you would not be turned and my actions led to you being turned anyway.

As you all know, Titus, their father was my lover. He was the great love of my life. But what you don't know Eric and Fallon, is that Marius is my natural child."

I looked over at her, stunned that I had never guessed at this.

Titus and I created a child together. Marius is one of the few vampires in the world who was born this way. To my knowledge there are only five or six others in existence, all with mixed blood; vampire and either angel or fairy. Titus and I had a tempestuous relationship at times and we would split up for decades.

I met Appius in Greece one hundred years before I'd met Titus; he and I had been nest mates and lovers. Years later, when Titus and I were bonded in a way that we call marriage today, I turned to Appius at a time when Titus and I were separated and he took over our nest. He insisted that I get rid of Fallon. I told him that I never would, that I had sworn on my honor. Titus kept telling me that he knew something was happening to you, that you were being harmed, and I didn't listen to him. I was blind to Appius, and he hurt you. I'm so sorry for that. Appius tried to kill you, and Titus spared you because I loved you so. We sent Appius away, and as young as he was, Marius took charge of your care." I looked over at Marius as he stroked Fallon's hair. They'd forged a bond over a tremendous amount of trauma; this was why they were so close.

"Things were good for about two-hundred years. Titus, Marius, Fallon and I lived in Russia, then China, and I made the mistake of wanting to go back to Italy. I could tell that Marius and Titus were pining away for home. We glamoured a family into giving up their home along the coast, and we lived comfortably until Appius came. He had young Eric with him. Eric, you were about seven years vampire at the time. This will be very hard for all of you to hear, but I want you to understand that I did what I had to do."

I felt my chest constrict. Sookie was afraid to hear what had happened to me. I didn't want her to know the details either. It was horrifying. I thought about the nights that Appius traded me to his friends. I thought about the way that he forced me to perform acts that I could never speak of. I felt rage and disgust in my heart and I couldn't look at Sookie. I stared down at Sookie's and my hands. She was holding onto me tightly, silently letting me know that she was there for me. I couldn't have borne this without her. I sat wishing Meshra would get to the end of this awfulness. I hated that Marius had brought this up. I hated that he knew what had happened to me.

"Eric was being abused. Appius was absolutely brutal to you, I know. I know what you were made to do and I was disgusted. You were so afraid to speak up, to defend yourself. You responded to the slightest affections much like a dog that has been beaten. You were languishing under his tutelage. Oh how he hated you. You were so beautiful, and you were such a skillful hunter and so eager to please your maker. He tried to crush that wonderful spirit of yours. I couldn't understand why he despised you so, but he brought you to me and asked me to destroy you. I was horrified. I couldn't understand why he would make such a magnificent vampire, then destroy him. I begged him to let me keep you instead. I didn't know why he wouldn't destroy you himself if he really intended to do it. But his real motives became clear. He used you, Eric, as a wedge between Titus and me."

I remembered when I met Meshra. She was so beautiful and so kind to me, I would have kissed her feet. She brought me humans to feed from. She taught me how to remain concealed until I had my victim cornered. She cleaned me, clothed me and taught me how to love. I felt blood tears stinging my eyes, but I fought them. My mother knew what she meant to me, but I didn't want to cry in front of Marius and Fallon.

"Titus told me I had to get rid of you because Fallon came undone. You smelled like Appius, and your mannerisms were like his, as was your coarse nature at first. She hid in the forest for weeks at a time, afraid that you would harm her the way that your father had. Marius became overly protective of his sister, and the two of you fought viciously. Do you remember this, Marius?

Titus and Marius took Eric back to Appius and insisted that he take responsibility for his mistakes. You must understand that I didn't see Eric as a mistake. Appius refused to take Eric back. He said that if we didn't take you, you would be abandoned and he would let you die. I couldn't let you die, you looked so much like my lovely son Marius. I was arrogant enough to think that I could raise three vampires at one time and give you each the love and attention that you deserved.

Well, Titus wasn't going to be bullied by Appius, he felt so much guilt at turning you Fallon, it was killing him inside. Marius has told me that Appius struck him, and that there was a struggle. Do you remember any of this Eric?" Of course I remembered it. I remembered it all too well. Sookie leaned over to catch my gaze. I couldn't look at her.

"During the struggle, Titus was killed. Marius, you came back to me with ashes on your hands, and I knew. If I could have died that night, I would have. I vowed to kill Appius myself. She looked at me, as if to ask if I understood her actions. "I was devastated, but I had three children to care for. I lured Appius to our home with the promise that I would be his. I'd intended to stake him in bed because I was older and faster than he. I waited until you children were hunting for the evening, and I let him have me one last time. He was so stupid that he believed that I would forgive him for what he had done. Fallon, when you came home, you saw me preparing to kill him and you staked him yourself."

"Then why don't I remember any of this?" Fallon was shaking and Marius was becoming upset.

"Because I had a witch blot your memory of that time, you were hysterical. You deserved revenge and you got it, but it cost you dearly. It has cost us all dearly."

"Fallon, I'm sorry we couldn't tell you. You truly were a danger to yourself for several months. We had to help you if we were to keep you, and Meshra isn't the only one who became attached to you. You are my blood, and I would do whatever I had to, to protect you."

I stood up and went to the window. I had had all that I could take. I'd needed Marius and Fallon. Why hadn't he been able to see that I'd needed his support too. When he'd reached out to me in the forest, I thought that I had finally found a family where I could relax and belong. But it was always short-lived, and he would just as quickly turn on me.

I felt Meshra's arms around my waist. She laid her cheek against my back and whispered to me in French.

"My darling son, I know how badly you are hurting. I know that this is not something that you wanted to revisit. I'm so sorry that I couldn't be a better mother to you." When Sookie went to the bathroom, I turned to face my mother, the woman who had given me a second chance at eternal life.

"Maman, we couldn't have had a better mother than you. You could have killed me. You could have abandoned me. But you didn't. You took us in. I am so sorry that my presence caused so much pain for Fallon. You should have killed me. You should have sent me away." I felt my throat tightening and I buried my face in my hands. Sookie's blood was making me an emotional wreck, and I promised myself that I was going to have to abstain from any more of her blood until we got back home.

"Shh, shh. No, no, son. Don't talk that way. I love you. I could no more hurt you than I could hurt Marius or Fallon."

"Eric, we couldn't have been a family without you." I felt Marius rubbing my back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was Meshra's son. We did it to protect her. I was a baby about needing her attention, I'm so sorry. I never should have treated you badly. We've all been guilty of treating each other badly. I feel horrible for what I've done to you over the years. Can you ever forgive me?"

"It's all right, Marius, it's understandable that you would resent anyone that came between you and your parents. You had a right to be raised by your mother and father and we got between that."

Sookie left and we didn't stop her, our family needed to have this discussion. I was only sorry that it had taken us nearly five-hundred years to do so. Fallon gave me a quick hug and went down the hall to her bedroom.

Marius and I stood quietly for a minute or so, and Meshra followed Fallon down the hall. I could tell that there was more that he wanted to say, so I waited patiently.

"Eric, I really am sorry about what I said. I don't wish that Meshra had killed you. I was angry and I crossed the line. I will understand if you can't ever forgive me, which is all I seem to be asking of you lately. I've lost my brother because of my stupid jealousy. I hope that you and I can work to get our relationship back. I completely understand if you can't. But I pray that you are a bigger man than I."

"I can forgive you…but…" I was unable to finish my thought. What I'd wanted to say was that I could forgive him, but why had it been necessary to say such a cruel thing in the first place. Why was it that he could forgive Fallon any sin? She was just as guilty of coming between him and his parents as I, yet I took the brunt of his insults. I tried to place myself in his position, but I just couldn't fathom saying and doing the same things to my blood. I could only conclude that Marius's jealousy ran deep. And perhaps he was jealous still. Marius waited for me to finish my sentence. He could see that I was struggling with something, but he stood silently beside me as we stared out over the abbey square.

I looked over at him and he was wiping away a tear, something that I had seen only once before when his father was killed. The idea that he finally meant it touched me deeply.

"Are you…are you crying?"

"No."

"Yes you are."

"I am most certainly not, what is this you say? Crying? No, I am not doing that."

"You little bitch." He smiled at me and I hugged him to me. I'd missed him a great deal, and it was nice to end the hostility between us.

"May I please taste her blood, Eric? Just one drop. She never even has to know. Surely you've wasted a drop or two, what's one drop between brothers?"

"She would kill me. She would absolutely kill me, I can't do it."

"You selfish bastard."

"That's not it at all, you've seen how headstrong she is. You know what I'm up against. You think I want her mad at me." He threw up his hands in frustration.

"I will have to get my own fairy then. Does she have a sister, or perhaps a brother?"

"There is a brother, a bit of a whore actually. You could probably have him for a six pack of beer quite frankly."

Meshra came in and I realized that Sookie had been gone for longer than I'd been expecting. I kissed the top of her head and promised them all that we would stop back here to say goodbye before we left Paris. Marius stopped me before I left.

"Are you and Sookie staying in a hotel or have you gotten a place?"

"I was going to take her to the Chatelaine in Marseille."

"Rather than that, I want to give you the keys to my yacht. I want you and Sookie to spend your last week in France in the most beautiful part of the country. My yacht is moored in Monaco. Take her there and you will have the most unforgettable time."

"Thanks, M. I will. Is there someone I need to call?" He handed me a card and I slipped it into my wallet.

"Have your daytime guy call the Captain. He will prepare everything that you need. Including food for her."

"Thank you, Marius." I hurried down the stairs wondering just where Sookie had gone off to, I reached out through our blood bond and turned to see her sitting at Gaudeamus.

"I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't be honey. I just needed to give you guys some privacy. I feel really bad for you."

"Don't feel bad for me. I knew something must have happened to Appius considering he hadn't ever tried to contact me in one thousand years to ask me to do him any favors or loan him money. I had assumed that he must be dead. I just didn't know that my sister did it. If he raped her and stole her child, then he got what he deserved. I might have done the same to Titus if it had been necessary." I actually would have killed Titus if he'd hurt Meshra or Fallon. It made me physically ill to witness the strong bullying weaker creatures. If that was a side effect of being abused, well, so be it.

"How are they?"

"They will be fine. My sister has agreed to see a human doctor thanks to you. I apologized for not taking her seriously. We all would like to apologize to you for ruining our last evening in Paris. Meshra is especially sorry. But I'm not. I'm glad that we got it all out. It's kind of a shock for me to find out that Meshra gave birth to Marius after she was turned. I didn't know that was possible. But it explains why he feels I tried to replace him. I never understood his hostility up until now. Marius and I can go forward and they're going to let Fallon grow up. So, it's for the best." I looked closely at Sookie and realized that she was intoxicated. She gave me a lopsided smile. I took her hand and kissed it.

"Lover, you are going to need me to carry you to the boat tonight, considering your condition." I took her into my arms as she swayed upon standing.

"Boat? What boat? Are we going on a boat?"

I decided it would be easier to carry her upstairs as she giggled and hiccupped through our conversation. Lisette had our bags packed, and we began our goodbyes. I hadn't considered that I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to them. There wasn't anything keeping us in the U.S. except Ravenwood. Sookie didn't have many friends, and as a matter of course, my friends were all in France. Meshra held me close and I kissed each of her cheeks. I told her in French that she was the most beautiful spirit that ever existed, and that I was eternally lucky to have gotten her for a mother and nestmate. I continued in English as I saw Sookie struggling to understand us.

"Meshra, my beautiful mother, thank you for your blood, thank you for giving us a home, and thank you for not turning me away when Appius wanted me dead. I mean it, mom, thank you for giving me a family."

She kissed each of my cheeks and I didn't want to let her go.

"I love you, son. I have always loved you and I always will." She pulled away and I knew that she would break down if I held her much longer. Fallon looked up at me and I bit my lip. The fact that she'd been as good to me after what she'd been through was amazing. I took her into my arms and held her silently, wishing that I could take back everything that I'd ever said or had done to hurt her. I wasn't sure how I would be able to make up for it, but I would find a way. I felt her slipping and I realized that Fallon was sobbing. I just held her until I felt her straighten up. She pulled back and I looked down into her eyes.

"Take care, Fallon. And when you are well, you come stay with us."

"I will, thank you Eric. Thank you for being my brother."

Marius and Sookie said their goodbyes, and I winked at him as he kissed her cheeks.

"Eric, tell me, is her blood as sweet as in my dreams?"

"No, Marius, she is sweeter than that."

"Come see me. I have missed you, and I really would like to see you again soon."

"I will, brother, I will. Maybe Fallon and I will come to this palazzo you call Ravenwood and have blood, and wine. Eric, I know that there has been trouble for you in America, so please be careful there, I do not wish to hear from our mother that you have met an untimely end. You are stubborn and proud, but you must be smart. Do not leave anything to chance. I tell you this as your big brother and nest mate. If you must hire extra security, do so. Sookie, do not let him be so proud that he does not take precautions."

"Marius, cool it. You're scaring Sookie, I'll be fine. I just got caught off guard, but it won't happen again." I had so much left to say to Marius, but I knew that we were running out of time. "You take care of mom and Fallon, okay?" A tear ran down his cheek and I shook my head at him. I pulled him close and Marius hugged me tightly. Suddenly, I was crying too. Goddamned fairy blood. Meshra came to my side just as Sookie went down the stairs and waited for me out front. I let go of Marius and patted him on the back.

"Thanks for the boat. I'll have someone send the keys back to you at the end of the week."

"Just enjoy the privacy. And please don't let it be so long before we see you again. I mean it."

"I promise. Maybe I'll see you sooner than you think."

Meshra whispered into my ear just before I turned.

"There are somethings that you must know about the side effects of my blood. Somethings that I wanted to tell you sooner, but I know will be hard for you to accept. You can tolerate weak sunlight for short periods of time. I'm not certain how long you can stand it, but you will have plenty of warning. I've been told that you will feel as if your skin is crawling. At that point, you have about half an hour before you must get to bed. And there is something else…" She looked into my eyes and took my hands in hers.

"Think about giving her a child, for both your sakes."

"Mother, how would that be possible? I want it more than anything in the universe, but I cannot get her hopes up that I can give her something I can't give. I won't do that to her. I won't allow myself to be disappointed. No I can't accept that."

"If you want it, it will be, as it was with me. Trust in my blood, son."

"Meshra, I appreciate what you've done for us, but I just can't do this."

"I would never tell you something that would hurt you. You know that. Just consider it."

"Oui, Maman." I kissed her again wishing that I'd made arrangements for us to stay longer. I would talk to Sookie about moving to Paris with me.

I descended the stairs quickly and caught up with Sookie who had climbed into the limousine that Bobby had arranged for us. She and Bobby reminisced about their adventures up and down the alleyways we passed. I tried to listen with interest, but my mind was wandering. I'd seen these streets change from cobblestone to pavement. I'd seen merchants live and die on these streets. I'd seen generations of families living and breathing up and down the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Our family had seen wars, famine, disease and death. But we remained. I leaned my head back and thought of Appius and what he'd done to me. I felt my hands clenching into fists. I wondered briefly at how Fallon must have felt plunging the stake into his back. How good she must have felt piercing his ribs, then lungs and finally into his awful, dead heart. I was proud of her. I was proud that she'd stood up for us both. She'd had the courage to kill her rapist, when I could not.

Meshra had told me to trust her blood; to trust that I could give Sookie a child. I didn't know how that could be possible, Meshra was life itself and she could create from nothing. Sookie and I were but a human and a very old, very dead former person. But I would concentrate all of my efforts on making it happen if it could. I would start by testing the sun. I would see how long I could stand the sunlight to see if Meshra was right.

I felt her hand on mine and I turned to her. She leaned over and kissed me, and it was the most perfect timing that I'd ever known. I smiled at her.

"Marius, who is usually a selfish bastard, has lent us the use of his yacht for a week. We are headed to Monte Carlo, to get you some of that precious sunshine that you so dearly love, and to cure me of my need to be absolutely and totally alone with the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Not cure forever, I hope."

"Never, my love. Never."


	14. Chapter 14

I was quiet the whole way to Monaco. I knew that Sookie didn't know what to make of my silence, but I had so much to consider that I couldn't make chit chat. Bobby held up my end of the conversation, and I would give him a bonus for doing so. As we pulled up to the dock, I showed Sookie which yacht was Marco's. _The Glamourous_ _Life_ had been a gift to Marco from a French heiress named Natalie Du Maupassant. He'd turned her in the sixteenth century. They rekindled their romance briefly in the eighties and they lived together as a couple for six years before her sister, Juliette, had her killed in a fit of jealousy over Marco. To say that he was furious was an understatement. Juliette having been banished from all polite vampire society at Marco's request, now made her living as a vampire whore; selling herself to wealthy tourists. She was disgusting and I hoped that we wouldn't run into her, as Monte Carlo was her beat, so to speak.

We pulled up to the dock and I felt around in my breast pocket of the pair of sunglasses that Bobby had given me on the plane. After a slight delay at the airport, it became apparent that we would be arriving just as the sun was rising. Bobby was kind enough to donate his sunglasses to me, as I've never had need of a pair. I put them on and marveled at how humans could tolerate seeing the world in these shades of greenish greys.

The captain approached me and shook my hand, introducing me to his crew. I dismissed them immediately. Being born of a sea culture, I knew my way around a yacht or two.

I felt panic rising in Sookie as she noted that the sun was cresting the horizon. We went below decks and she disappeared into the restroom to clean up before retiring for the day. She would do her best to keep to my schedule for the week, but I didn't think it was necessary. I smiled at the thought that she would try.

I undressed and stepped into the shower with her. I kissed her and reminded her of our first shower together at her place in Bon Temps. She blushed furiously and I laughed. She'd been so adorable, so tentative. I was an unknown quantity to her then. She'd cared for me, leaving me warmed blood before she went to work, brushing my hair as we watched television. In some ways, it was the most honest that we'd been with each other; stripped of my wealth and status, and she stripped of the walls she surrounded herself with.

I reveled in the simple pleasure of holding her hand as we sat face to face on the couch with her legs across my lap. I would rub her feet when she came home from Merlotte's and she would tell me about her day.

The evening that I arose to find that I didn't remember how I'd gotten to her house, but that I was dressed in a Bon Temps sweatshirt and cheap jeans, I had a minute's thought of pretending that my memory hadn't returned. Over the course of that evening, I caught her reaching up to touch me. I wished in my heart that she would have. I couldn't remember being hers at the time, but I'd wanted it. I'd wanted her from the moment I'd laid eyes on her, in an overwhelming surge of curiosity and desire. I could no more control my feelings for her than I could hold back the sun. How heartbreaking for her to be so near to me, to have me all to herself then to have me torn from her so cruelly by a witch's curse.

She stepped out of the shower and began brushing her teeth. I scrubbed shampoo through my hair promising myself that I would never let us be separated again.

I watched her pull a nightgown over her head. I would destroy them all until she slept naked, as I wanted her to.

"I swear you wear those to frustrate me."

"I do not. I get chilly in bed, it's not like you're putting out any heat." She hit my backside and I laughed at her. She had a point, I think that I actually emanated cold rather than heat, but because I couldn't tell, I had to rely on others to tell me of their comfort or discomfort.

"That's a pretty gown, did you get that in Paris?"

"I did, I bought it yesterday. To replace the one you tore up at the hotel. You've destroyed the last three."

"Are you going to take the hint and sleep naked?"

"Fine, but turn up the heat so I can sleep, I'm exhausted. I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep."

"You got pretty drunk last night. I'm kind of surprised you didn't pass out. Except that alcohol is probably going to be harder for you to metabolize with all the blood you've had."

"You know that you're cute when you floss?"

"I thought you said I do everything cute. You taking it back already? That's lame."

"I'm not. Come on to bed, Eric. Seriously, the sun is up up, not just sort of up.

"I've got some time yet."

"So, Mare told you?"

"You thought I wouldn't figure out that I was waking up earlier and not quite able to sleep when I did go to bed? I'm pretty excited to get to Havenwood and have a quick sunrise romp with you."

"If you come to bed, we can do that now before I fall asleep. I'm not kidding, I'm going to fall asleep on you and you'll be frustrated." She didn't understand, I wasn't rejecting sex with her, I wanted that too, but I hadn't seen the sun in over a millennium.

I looked over at her and her eyes were closed. She was curled down into the sheets as a small child. I leaned over and kissed her forehead. She smelled sweet and clean with that hint of tangerine cake batter that I'd come to think of as her fairy scent.

I went up the steps tentatively; hoping that Mare was not wrong. If she was, I'd begin to burn, and if I wasn't careful, Sookie would awake to find a pile of ash in my robe.

When I opened the cabin door, sunlight beamed in over me. I took a deep breath and burst into tears. I said a prayer thanking Odin in my native tongue. I looked at my hands, which were shaking. If someone had seen me, they would have been frightened by how I crawled up from below decks, shaking and afraid.

I reached out for the railing to steady myself. My god, I'd forgotten how blue the sea was, I'd never known how far I could see in the daylight. I watched seagulls dive into the water and scoop gleaming, silver fish into the warming air. I heard the early morning traffic begin on the mountainside in Cap D'Ail. I could smell guavas, as a woman on a bicycle basket filled with fruit rode by the pier. She nearly wrecked when she realized that she was witnessing a vampire during the day. She would tell her friends, and no one would believe her.

I wiped the blood from my face and turned towards the sun again. I let it warm my face. I took my robe off and looked down at my pale, ashen body. This is how I appeared to Sookie; fish belly white, and cold as marble. I stood on the rail and plunged into the water. I heard it rush against my ears. I'd never been in the water during the day. I looked around at the sharp rocks that jutted out from the shore. I watched the grasses swaying back and forth dancing with the tide. I felt a fish brush past my leg and I reached out to him as he slipped away. I slipped away. And I shot out of the water like a dolphin. I was giddy, and laughed to myself that I could still fly underwater, slowly, but capably. I landed on the deck, shaking the water from my hair. I felt hopeful for the first time in many, many years. I closed my eyes to pray.

"Odin, maker of the world and all creatures that are in it. If it is in your heart to allow me to create a child with the woman that I love, let it be so. I vow to you on this day that I will be a good husband and father. I will have faith in my mother's blood. I will have faith, that I am not so damned. Odin, be praised." I opened my eyes as the ship gently rocked beneath me. I stared down into the water at the shells. I felt a shiver go down my spine suddenly, and I realized that I should go inside. I'd been given an extraordinary gift and I would not squander it.

I reluctantly closed the door and sat on the stairs for a moment, knowing that from now on, my life would be radically different.

Sookie and I spent the week fishing, swimming and making love. When we'd first come to France, I'd struggled with having someone in my bed. I'd grown so accustomed to sleeping alone that it took a while for me to adjust to having her there when I rolled over. Now, I couldn't imagine her not being with me. Her soft snoring soothed me. And sometimes, when I awoke before she, I would lie next to her and stare, wondering how I'd found someone to love me who only wanted love from me, not my money, not life, not death.

She and I sat on the couch overlooking the Mediterranean one evening with her legs across my lap as she had when we were at her home in Bon Temps. She told me about the night that her parents drowned and how frightened she'd been that she would grow up alone. I understood her fear. Loneliness can create an unshakeable insanity. It either drives you to hold on to every relationship for dear life, or shun them altogether. Without saying it, she'd expressed that she'd been desperately lonely throughout her life. And I thought that maybe it drew her to me since I appeared to have mastered the art of not needing anyone. She'd been wrong.

I listened quietly as she talked. She could seem so strong to me most of the time, but I often forgot that she spent most of her life shielding herself from memories of abuse, just as I had. She got choked up as she talked about her grandmother and what she remembered about her parents. I never wanted her to feel alone again. She went to the bathroom to wash her face and I heard her blowing her nose. I called Yuri and asked him to cut a dozen Havenwood roses and overnight them to us. I would pay whatever the cost to get them here before she awoke the next day.

When she saw the roses on her pillow, she jumped into my arms. I knew that she would love them and what they said about us. After she'd eaten her dinner, I put music on and we laughed together as she explored the music on my iPod. When my phone rang, I thought nothing of it, Pam had been begging us to return so that she could return to Minnesota to check on her previous nest. She'd left some business unattended when I'd contacted her about opening Fangtasia. The truth is, I'd missed her friendship and knew that the bar was enough of a lure to drag her down to Louisiana. She'd run off to Minnesota in an attempt to put some distance between us after what Marco had done to her in Kirschgasse.

When I saw that it was Yuri on the line, I assumed that he was checking to see if Sookie's roses had arrived in time. I was completely unprepared for what he told me. Jason had been shot while riding Arkady. It did not appear that he would survive the wound.

Sookie's phone rang and I felt her heart jump. She sensed that something wasn't right and she darted off to answer it. I'd wanted to break the news to her gently but I couldn't think of words that would soften the blow. I went into our bedroom just as she was answering it. I stepped to her side in time to catch her as she fainted.

I went into automatic pilot. I put Sookie on the bed. It was better that she not have to be awake for any of the preparations for us to return home.

I called Bobby and had him arrange for us to return to Bon Temps as soon as was possible. I called a car service to pick us up at the yacht. I also called Mare and asked that

she meet us at Havenwood in case I needed her.

Bobby met us at the airport. Sookie awoke a few times, but was near catatonic. I didn't try to make her lucid by giving her blood. She stared out into space and I knew that she wouldn't remember anything about the last few hours.

I carried Sookie onto the plane and held her tightly. When she awoke screaming, I comforted her.


	15. Chapter 15

Sookie was still completely out as we pulled up to St. Boniface. I carried her from the taxi to the hospital lobby. An orderly rushed to my side with a wheelchair but I told him that I would hold her and that neither a chair, nor a stretcher would be necessary.

The receptionist told me where I could find Jason's room. The hospital had extended the courtesy of leaving Jason in his room so that Sookie would not have to see him in the morgue. I gave her a curt nod and walked to the bank of elevators. I felt someone familiar approaching me from my right side and I hoped the elevator would come faster.

"Eric? Is that really you?"

I turned to see Allison Humphrey with a clipboard in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I could hear her heartbeat pounding as she'd panicked when she'd seen me.

"Hello, Allison." She was the last human that I wanted to encounter while carrying my sleeping wife in my arms to see her recently deceased brother.

"Is that her?"

"Yes. Her brother was killed and she has had a sedative."

"I am sorry for your loss." She drank her coffee down and tossed the foam cup into the trash. "Since she is asleep, would it be possible for me to have five minutes of your time?"

"This really is not the best time to be having the sort of conversation that I expect that you'd like to have with me, Allison. Excuse me." I stepped towards the opening elevator but she put her hand on my shoulder.

"Eric, please? It's not what you think." I heard the desperation in her voice and I grew concerned that if she was genuinely desperate that she might say or do something to harm Sookie. Desperate humans were often unpredictable.

I told her to follow me to Jason's room so that I could arrange to lay Sookie down for five minutes, and not a moment longer.

I laid Sookie on the bed beside Jason's and spread a blanket across her. She sighed deeply and I bent to kiss her. I could hear Allison's breathing change as she watched from the doorway, but that didn't matter to me.

I strode past Allison and leaned against the wall facing Jason's room.

"What is so important that you could not wait until another time?"

"You haven't been returning my calls, I didn't know that I'd ever see you again. How have you been?"

"I've been better. I need you to go Allison. I need to be with her."

"I won't keep you. I wanted to ask you for something."

I ran my fingers through my hair. There was no way in Heaven or Hell that I would turn her if that was what she was aiming at.

"Allison--"

"I need you to glamour me. I need you to make this pain go away. I don't want to be in love with you, and I don't want to hate you for not loving me back. Please…as an act of mercy, please glamour me, Eric."

"Any vampire could have done this for you. Why me?"

"I've tried. I've had three other vampires glamour me and it isn't working. I want to move on with my life, but I need to do that without you. Please? You're the strongest vampire in this area. You know that. You can make it permanent. I'm begging you."

I saw the tears in her eyes and I knew that she meant it. I had a moment of guilt knowing that I'd caused her this much pain. She had been a dear friend, and she was begging to forget about me. I looked in on Sookie and turned back to Allison.

"You were a friend when I needed one, and for that I'll always be grateful." I stared into her eyes and told her to slow her breathing. I pushed gently at first, seeing her mind's walls fall away as I planted the suggestion that she and I had never met. That she and I would never attempt to know each other. That if she encountered me again that she would be terrified. I went the extra step and told her to avoid vampires at all costs and to seek out a human male to love her back. While I had her in her glamoured state, I touched her cheek and told her that she was a very beautiful woman who deserved to be loved by someone who could love her and value her for who she was. I thanked her again for her friendship and said my own goodbye to the woman who'd unwittingly given me the courage to pursue my relationship with Sookie. I hugged her briefly and kissed the top of her head.

"Now, I want you to turn around, and I want you to walk away. I don't want you to look back, do you understand?"

She nodded silently as she walked away.

"Goodbye, Alli." I went back into Jason's room, lifted Sookie up and sat in the darkness waiting for her to wake up.

I felt Sookie stirring in my mind and roused myself. She would know now that Jason had not made it after all. Pam had called me to deliver the news. She was uncharacteristically sullen, and when I pressed her for details, she rushed from the phone. I hadn't realized that she'd become so attached to Jason Stackhouse, but she'd stayed with him, smoothing his brow as brother death came calling.

Pam told me how she stared down into his eyes hoping to catch the exact moment when he winked out of existence. I asked why she hadn't considered turning him, and she said that she had. But that she feared my reaction. I didn't respond. Pam was up to something, and while I was unsure what, she had never really been good at keeping secrets. I asked her directly if she'd turned Jason and she said no. I truly wished for Sookie's sake that she had.

Sookie studied my features as if for the first time, watching as I slowly came back from my own thoughts.

"He's gone. Isn't he?"

I helped her to stand so that she could look at Jason's body and say her goodbyes. She was unaccustomed to looking into the face of death. He was my constant companion. I recognized him in the stiffened limbs, the dull eyes, the ache of unfulfilled wishes.

"That is what it smells like, death. It is not as unpleasant as humans think."

"This should be me, not him."

"What good would that serve?"

"He was innocent."

"No one is innocent, Sookie."

"He didn't deserve to die like this."

Sookie stood staring at him for a long time as if she was expecting that I would tell her that this was a terrible mistake. She put her head in my chest and wailed against me. She shook with the sadness of knowing that this would be the last time that she would see him. When I felt her knees giving way, I lowered her to the floor and held her.

"Eric, I need to get out of here. Take me out of here, please."

" We're going, right now, love."

I helped her up and out into the bright hallway. There were curious stares and lowered heads. I gave the curious withering glances, daring them to continue staring; most averted their eyes. Sookie screamed at one of the nurses, she had a wild look in her eyes and a hint of drying blood on her cheeks. It was not my blood.

I walked us into the restroom, sat her on the counter and wiped her cheeks carefully. She was horrified when she realized that the paper towel was not as white as she'd been expecting. It was of no consequence to me. I pushed her hair out of her eyes and held her cheeks in my hands. I kissed her nose and whispered that I loved her and that I always would.

On our way out of the hospital, she motioned that she'd like to light a candle for Jason's soul. I wanted to wait outside, but I didn't want to leave her. I stood in the rear of the chapel watching for hospital security, as I knew from experience that I would be asked to leave. Historically, vampires have been thought to be devils and heathens, the very souls in need of saving. Yet we were banished from churches and celebrations. Who knew more about the after-life than vampires? I stepped to Sookie's defense, knowing that this would be a great revelation to her. She would come to understand why vampires had such a contentious relationship with the church, but this was not the time for lessons in repentance.

"Welcome back to America, Sookie." I grabbed her arm and began leading her out to the taxi stand. I felt Allison approaching and I wondered briefly at the depth of her heartache that she could be so resistant to glamouring. I wouldn't hesitate to dispatch with her if she meant to make trouble for Sookie and me.

My fangs clicked into place at the thought and I had to forcibly retract them before Sookie noticed. Allison looked appropriately frightened of me, and I relaxed a little hoping that I wouldn't have to kill her.

"Hi, I'm Allison. Allison Humphrey. I'm sorry to bother you, I know this isn't a good time for you, but I work here and I saw what happened. I wanted to give you some information. I'm sorry about Father Franklin, he's old, and not everyone here feels that way."

I pushed her a little, reinforcing the glamouring. She twisted her hands in her skirt and I retreated a little, not wanting to cause her permanent harm.

"We're the Northmans. This is Eric, I'm Sookie."

I refused to look at Allison. I didn't want her mind to challenge the directive that I'd given her earlier. I pushed again, telling her to move on, quickly.

"There is a church about half a block down that caters to vampires, and companions. It's in a brick building at 400 West Mayfield. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Allison."

I watched as they regarded each other. Allison stared at Sookie as if the glamouring wasn't sticking. I gave her a final push and hoped that she would remember how to get home. She patted Sookie's arm and I knew that that would be the last time I ever saw my friend.

We sat in the backseat of the taxi and Sookie went away from me. I felt her mind slip from my own in a sort of mental retreat, leaving me alone with the throb of the universe that gave us our life force.

"Stay with me, Sookie. The grief, it's a form of madness. I mean for you to stay with me, don't give in to it." I had seen too many souls corrupted by grief. It was insidious, with its tendrils seeping though the blood and into the heart. I made her focus on me, on us. I wanted to give her something to hold on to.

"Baby, does Pam know?"

"She was with him when he passed. I didn't want to upset you that we weren't able to get home in time."

"I'm just glad he was with someone who cared about him. I didn't want him to die alone."

"No, Bobby contacted Pam as soon as she woke for the evening and she rushed to St. Boniface. He did not die alone. She said that he was very peaceful and quiet and that she held his hand and stroked his head as she would expect that you would have done." She got quiet, and I let her as I thought about the probability that Pam had lied to me for the first time in nearly two hundred years.

I stared down at her as we made love. She was physically present, but her mind was in mine, as if she was searching for something, or hiding from her own grief. I felt her sink her tiny fangs into my shoulder and she took a long drink. I felt a tugging in my chest that meant that she was taking a part of my anima with her. I would not have her exposed to the violence that I knew myself capable of. I tried to wall myself off from her so that she would never become as cruel as I'd been forced to be. She pulled again, dragging at my spirit, taking magic into herself as well as blood. She would be turned if I could not stop her.

"Sookie, you have to stop. That's enough, lover." When she didn't, I felt a rush of panic. She'd begged me not to turn her, but I wasn't sure I could stop her. I saw her eyes roll back into her head. She was vibrating with death and magic, murder and mayhem. I pushed her from my mind, desperate to keep her from the recesses where I'd walled in my own feelings of rage, guilt, turmoil and destruction.

As she pulled, she was bringing these things out of me. I saw Appius and I wanted to crush his skull, though he'd been dead for centuries. I saw myself cowering beneath his fists, and I grew angry again. I saw Corey and felt the burning sunlight that seeped into the makeshift crypt that I'd had to fashion when she betrayed me. I felt the exhilaration of taking her fang from her and the feelings of joy that I felt when I discovered that she'd been staked and burned by locals. I roared inside at the thought of John Quinn's eye in my hand, the feeling of power when I showed him his own eye for what he'd insinuated about my dear sister. I shivered with rage and delighted in the feelings of disgust. I became electric as Sookie tapped into 1000 years of buried thoughts, impulses and decisions. She was frantic, as was I. I wanted to tear into her throat as she dug into my spine, but I loved her. I thought of my love beneath me. Her kindness draining from her, her gentleness being replaced by my hostility and with all that I had, I separated myself from her.

"Sookie, enough! That's enough. I said STOP!" I held her down and I felt her soul seeping out of me.

"Eric, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop. I'm sorry."

I got up and called Marius and my mother. If Sookie had gotten as far as I believed, she would turn and I wasn't sure what the end result would be. There was a strange light left behind when she drank from me. I feared that she had caught brother death's eye and that he would show her things…

I wanted to hold her, desperately. I wanted to pull her back from the edge of madness. It was no place to live.

I retrieved one of Margie's sleeping pills from my jacket pocket and got Sookie a glass of water. If I could get her to sleep beside me, I could shield her until this fugue passed. She took the pill and I closed the draperies around our bed. We would be safe here. We would be together.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm as all right as I can be given the fact that my brother was murdered by my ex-boyfriend."

Her eyes flashed black, and I knew that my darkness was inside her now.

"You are extremely agitated suddenly. What's going on, Sookie?" I wanted to keep her talking. I wanted her to question her feelings so that I could assure her that she needed me to calm her down. But she was anything but fearful. In fact, she seemed as if she had plans. She felt as if she was gearing up for something big. I probed her mind, waiting, hoping that I was mistaken but certain that my wife was lying.

"Nothing, Eric. Let's just get to bed."

I knew then that she had no intention of going to bed. I summoned all of my strength to stay awake. I would have to hold on until the pill kicked in for her. I sniffed, realizing that the chemical smell of the pill had not dissipated. Which meant that she had not taken it after all.

"Sookie, have you ever lied to me?

"Not intentionally."

"I feel as if there is something going on with you that I would be upset to hear and that you are keeping it from me."

"No, Love, go on to sleep. I'm going to sleep." When she yawned, I knew that I was being misled. I felt myself growing weary. I wouldn't be able to hold on for long at all. I lay on top of her and held her down.

"Angel, are you going off on your own to find Quinn? Is that what you're doing?"

"Eric, I need to sleep, you said so yourself and whatever you gave me is kicking in, so just lie down and relax."

"You're being evasive." I felt sleep pulling at me. I missed snippets of what she'd said. I struggled to explain.

"Please, Sookie. Don't go after him alone. I mean it. You don't know your own strength. I really had to fight you to get you off of me. You are dangerous right now and you may kill someone without meaning to. I don't want to wake up and find that you're gone. I will be so angry with you."

"Eric, you rest. You're exhausted. You've been up longer than you should have already. Rest baby." She rubbed my head and kissed me tenderly. I wouldn't be able to resist the sleep. I heard myself struggling.

"Please don't do this, please? Sookie…if you love me…don't go. I can't protect you. You're a danger to yourself…stay with me…Let me catch Quinn, Sookie?"

"Eric, I'm sorry. I have to do this. I love you so much." She wasn't even trying to hide it now. She really meant to go out on her own. I closed my eyes then, desperately trying to stop her, but knowing that there simply was nothing that I could do.

I felt her kiss me again and climb out of our bed. I was being dragged down to the floor. She'd had my blood and could move me. I felt her on top of me and I willed my arms around her but I could not move. She was having to work very hard at it, but she was determined. I was glad that she'd planned well enough to not leave me exposed but I wished that she would listen to me.

I felt her placing a pillow under my head as I slipped in and out of awareness. She told me that she loved me.

"Don't…leave…." I heard the door click shut and I was out.


	16. Chapter 16

I threw the door open and grabbed my cell phone. I had no idea if Sookie was alive or dead. I reached out to her and felt that while she was alive, she was very far away. She picked up on the fifth ring.

"Eric, love, please don't be angry. I'm okay."

I hated that I'd had to go to sleep instead of protecting her. "Where are you? I'll come get you. Just tell me where you are."

"No, I can't. I went after Quinn, but he didn't kill Jason, honey, it was my great uncle Dermot. Dermot killed my brother then he came after me. He says I have something of his and I have to keep it from him. I don't want you to worry about me. I love you so much."

I decided to change my tact. I would try gentleness instead of badgering. "Sookie tell me where you are. Baby, tell me."

"Honey, Dermot came after you. He's the one who drained you. Be on your guard, don't believe that I'm in danger if someone calls you and tells you differently. No one knows where I am. Please be careful. I love you. I mean it, Eric, I love you."

I reached out to her again, and while the insanity seemed to have subsided a bit, it was just under the surface. I tried to push her to see reason, but she put up defenses against me. This was something new for her.

"Lover, this is madness, come home. I can protect you here. Tell me now."

"Eric, tell me you love me."

I knew then that she was beyond my grasp. I would need help. I sat in stunned silence.

"Please, do you love me?"

"Sookie, you know I love you. You sound as if you're ready to die tonight. Don't do this alone. Come home, NOW! I will find you if it takes me all night."

"Eric, don't look for me. Keep yourself safe. Go to work and I'll check in with you. Goodbye, darling."

When I heard the line go dead, I could have snapped her neck. I called back and the call was sent to voicemail. I roared in frustration. I opened the phone and dialed the only person who might convince her to return.

"I'm assuming that if you are calling me that it this is a matter of grave importance."

"Poor choice of words, Niall, considering that your great-grandson died last night."

"I was unaware." He paused, but not as long as I would have liked to consider him respectful. "The reason for your call, then?"

"Sookie has gotten herself into a situation. She is looking for Dermot. I have no idea where to begin looking for her and I need your assistance."

"You think I have insight as to where Dermot keeps himself these days?"  
"Oh, I couldn't care less about what sort of tabs you keep on errant fairies, what I care about is my wife, your great-granddaughter. She's gotten into something emotionally and she needs our help."

"You've poisoned her then. I thought you older vampires were more skilled at keeping those parts of yourselves hidden."

"Yes, well, she is not exactly ordinary. Will you help me? I helped you and it cost me dearly. I lost my wife for nearly seven months because of you. And now we are wasting time."

"I will help you, but it will take time for me to unseal the entrance to Fae. As you know--"

"Respectfully, sir, fuck your fairy bullshit. Get your ass out here and look for her before that psychopath kills her. Because if she dies, I'm coming after all of you."

"Northman, I realize that you are distraught so I will forgive your threat this one time, but you are dangerously close to being on my bad side."

"Do not doubt what I have said if something should happen to her." I slammed my phone closed and rushed downstairs. Bobby was running in, late for the very first time.

"Sir,"  
"Not now, Sookie is missing. Get that shifter bastard Sam Merlotte on the phone. Find out if Sookie called him. Then I want you to call that Alcide Herveaux and also Tara Thornton or whatever her name is now."

"Yes, sir." He scrambled out to his car as I walked down to the garage.

I reached out to Sookie again, but this time, instead of feeling that we were blocked, I didn't feel anything at all. I slammed my fist into the side of my Audi praying that this emotional vacancy didn't mean what I thought it meant.

I flew for hours and hours looking for Sookie. I collapsed in a stand of trees and Fallon rushed to my side. She offered me her wrist and I took it, drinking greedily. My family had come as quickly as they could and took up the search for her.

I'd spent the previous night at her Bon Temps house, looking for clues. The longer I could not reach her the more despondent I became. Meshra assured me that it was possible that she'd gone to ground considering I'd described to her that Sookie was turning. I wanted to believe that. I wanted to hold on to the hope that she was still out there, our bond severed, but alive.

My mother knelt beside me and pulled Fallon's wrist from me.

"Eric, the answer is not in your sister's blood. Fallon, go home. Make sure that you have plenty to eat tonight."

"Oui, Maman." I saw her slipping and I knew that I'd taken too much.

Marius lifted us from the ground. "Madre, escort her home. She is dizzy. I will care for him. You go." I watched him kiss them both and I caught Fallon's eye. She gave me a weak smile and I bit my lip. I hadn't meant to weaken her. I was desperate.

"Marius,"

"No, do not worry. She will be okay. Try to call Sookie again."

"I have. I've called, and called."

"Call again. If someone should find her phone, just call again."

"Her phone is off. I've checked with the phone company. She was last connected to that tower. I just don't know where to go, M." I felt frustration building in my chest and I wanted to destroy something. He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me.

"Eric, listen to me, try again. Reach out to her. Madre said, if she has gone to ground, she will arise soon." I was afraid to try. I was afraid that she was gone for good.

I flew us back to Ravenwood hoping that Sookie had made contact with one of her many friends who were gathered in our living room. Pam came in and I smelled the earth on her. I shook my head in disbelief.

"You liar." I looked out over Lake Ravenwood and saw Jason Stackhouse trying to fly. I'd never seen Marius speechless before and I'd wished that I could enjoy it, but I had more pressing matters

"Wait. I did it for Sookie."

"You've never lied to me before, Pam. And you certainly have never done anything for anyone else without motive."

She and Marius stared at each other.

"Does he know about his sister?"

"He wants to help you find her. But I have to get him fed. I didn't plan this, Eric, he was lying there, so beautiful and he was dying. I panicked. I didn't know what you would want me to do. I just panicked. You punish me however you see fit."

"You are not mine to punish. You are your own vampire, woman. You've asserted yourself as a maker. This is your doing, so own it."

She stuttered then and I shook my head, glad for Sookie, but disappointed that I would have to take on her responsibility at such a critical time.

I flew out to the lake and hovered over the water.

"Young Stackhouse, we have to talk."

"I'm so hungry. Just so hungry." His voice was thick with soil, his vocal cords would be caked in mud still. Pam had no idea what she was doing and her impulse would mean that I would have to take him as my charge until she understood what she needed to do.

I reached out to Sookie as had become my habit every five minutes for the last two evenings. I felt the slightest buzzing and stilled myself tentatively reaching out again. She was there. I let out a war cry over the lake and laughed as two geese shot up out of the water and into the night sky.

"My wife lives!" I flew upwards very quickly and shot back down, grabbing Jason and pulling him along. We would need to go now. I could feel her calling to me instead of blocking. I pushed my feelings of joy through the spider silk like remains of our blood bond. She was fretting about her safety. I called her cell phone and instead of going to voicemail, it rang which meant that she'd turned it on but wasn't able to answer it.

"Let's go. I refuse to let her down again."

We flew for over an hour and a half, looking for the area around where Sookie's cell phone had connected. I reached out again and again assuring her that I was on my way. She was frightened and desperate now, as if she was being pursued.

"I'm so hungry. Can't we stop for something to eat for just a minute?"

"Sookie doesn't have a minute Jason, we must find her now." I scanned the forest floor beneath us and thought I saw something fluttering. She was calling to me in earnest now. I could feel her growing closer and I felt myself alternately panicking and cheering that I was so close. I checked again, listening past the rushing of the creek beneath where we were floating. I sent Jason around to flank the fluttering thing in the woods, and I saw my Angel crouching on the edge of a steep drop. I was several hundred yards away still, and as I tried to close the distance, I watched her hold up a figurine of some kind. Dermot seemed transfixed. Then she was airborne and was sailing down.

I pushed myself to fly faster and got beneath her. She landed in my arms with a dull thump. Her eyes flew open and she gasped.

"Gotcha." I thought that she would die from the shock.

I heard Jason enjoying his first meal as a vampire as Dermot shrieked beneath his brand new, razor sharp fangs. Sookie clung to me and I kissed her as if my life depended on it.

"Eric! OH MY God. OH MY God. I thought I was going to die."

"You would have."

"I'm sorry, I should have listened to you."

"Why would you ever start now?"

"Are you all right? Did he hurt you badly, lover?"

"No, I'm, I think I'm okay. But I wrecked your car."

"I don't care, I don't care, I have you now."

"You saved me. Thank you, Eric. You came and saved me."

I knew in my heart that I was at long last redeemed in her eyes, because although she was saving herself in a sense, by throwing herself off a cliff, my way was much better. I laughed to myself and she held onto me.

Her head turned sharply and she didn't know what she was hearing.

"Sookie, there is something that I must tell you." Jason strode out of the woods his muddy clothes slicked with new blood. "Do not be alarmed." She turned, saw her vampire brother and threw herself into his arms.

Jason explained his journey as she struggled to hold herself up. I reached out for her, remembering that I should tell her no account great-grandfather not to bother.

"I promised Niall that I would call him as soon as I had you. I'll call him after we get you home. Meshra, Marius and Fallon are worried sick about you."

"They're here?"

Before I could explain, Niall arrived in his silk clothing and sweet smelling robes. Sookie was the picture of grubbiness. She didn't seem to notice that he always showed up at the tail end of her peril. I caught wind of his fairy scent and tried to ignore it. He had gotten under my skin. I instructed Jason to look away, to sit on his hands, or to count to one hundred, but I didn't try too hard. It would serve the old codger right if Jason was the one to do him in. From what Sookie had told me, Niall wouldn't so much as lift a finger to help him. I could not tolerate that kind of familial rejection.

I tuned him back in when he mentioned Sookie's condition. She had changed and he'd seen it right away. My Sookie, my vampire. She would be mine forever.

"God, Sookie, the way you smell, I could do some really nasty things to you right now, and I can't believe I have to wait until we get home."

"If I wasn't exhausted, dirty and starving, I'd let you. I'm sorry I worried you."

What I wanted to do was bend her over my knee, but instead, I kissed her and lifted her into the air to take her home. Jason came up along side of us. I remembered my car and when I asked her about it, she led me to the garage of the house where she'd gone to ground the previous two nights. I smelled the bodies inside, but she didn't bat an eye. My vampire.

"I'm really sorry, honey."

I took in the view of my Spyker Zagato crushed beyond indecency. I saw a parade of bills dancing before me. All seven hundred forty thousand of them. I pinched the bridge of my nose because at that moment the important thing was that Sookie was alive, or at least still on this side of the soil. I kept that in mind, when what I really wanted to tell her was that this particular car was a limited edition.

"It's all right."

The frame, Odin, Thor and Freya, the frame.

"I know that car is special to you."

She had no idea. It was hand built. I over saw the process in Italy.

"You know that there are only twenty of these in the world, right?" The other four had been destroyed by drivers with a similar skill set as Sookie's.

"I said I was sorry."

Jason didn't make it any better.

"Hey Eric, you think that'll buff out?"

I forced a smile for Sookie's sake, but I really wondered what made her choose this over my Audi R8 which was easily replaceable and for a fraction of the cost.

"It's all right. It really is. No, it's, it's all right. All that matters is that Sookie is safe."

I shook my head. Love is a very powerful thing.

When we arrived back at Ravenwood, Fallon threw herself at us. Meshra tried to take Sookie from me, but I wouldn't let go. Marius followed, attaching himself to the fairy scent wafting from Sookie like warm cookies.

My family went into vampire crisis mode, drawing a bath, lighting candles. Fallon had recovered herself, but was still loopy. Meshra sent Natalia to make broth for Sookie. I watched my mother looking over Sookie as she stood waiting for the water to fill our tub. Sookie had lost a lot of weight, but her stomach protruded the slightest bit.

I set her down into the water and climbed in beside her. My family cared for her. Fallon washed her hair. Marco cleaned her hands and nails. Meshra fed her. I loved them all dearly.

"Do not cry, Angel. You're home and you're safe."

She nodded. Meshra dismissed Fallon and Marius and took our hands. I was used to the fawning, but Sookie wasn't I was glad that my mother had come.

"Darling daughter, you don't know do you?"

I wondered what she meant. Sookie seemed equally baffled.

"Know what?"

I couldn't imagine that Sookie didn't know that she had turned, if that was indeed what had happened. I stared at my mother, unsure of what she was getting at.

"You're pregnant."

I froze. I wasn't expecting her to say pregnant at all. I was expecting vampire. Sookie was in disbelief as well.

"Mom, that's ridiculous," I looked at Sookie. Meshra and I had had conversations about the possibility, but I'd never considered it. I'd only had one prayer answered before and it was only within the last hour so I never dreamed that…I thought back to the night that I'd prayed that I could give her my child. My mother had told me to have faith in her blood. It simply wasn't possible.

"Eric, I've never cheated on you. You know that. I'm not pregnant. What makes you say that?"

"Put your hand to your belly. Do you feel that protrusion? That is your womb. That is my Eric's child."

I sat motionless. I didn't want to believe it because I didn't want to have the dream ripped from me if she wasn't. "Mother, how is that possible?'

"I told you there were side effects to having my blood. I told you I didn't want you to have it until you had met someone who loved you. Eric, you've always known that I was not human when I was turned, and now you are like me. Sookie, is like me. And now my blood has helped you to bring life into the world, instead of only taking. I am so pleased that this has happened. Sookie, when was your last cycle?"

I wanted to believe it so desperately, but—

"Sookie, could it be?"

"Oh Eric, I hope so. I hope it more than anything I've ever hoped."

"I do not believe that this would have been possible without your fairy blood, dear heart, so I cannot take sole responsibility. You are both filled with my life force now, not just death and magic. I'm so happy for you. Now you will know the joy that I have in my heart for my children. Take care of your wife, son, she is going to give you a child."

We made small talk that let me know that we were avoiding the real issue, we were afraid. Afraid it was true, afraid it wasn't.

"Baby, how did you find me? Is our bond that strong?"

"Yes, and it always will be. I will always know where you are in the world." I didn't want to frighten her with how weak our bond had become when she had gone to ground. I thought that someday I might tell her, but for the meantime, I would let it go.

A baby, I thought.

"Eric, you're afraid, aren't you?"

"I'm—yes. I guess I am." I wasn't just slightly afraid, I was downright fearful. If Sookie was pregnant, she would be a target, as would my mother. We would have a hard time explaining what had happened without exposing my mother. "I just haven't thought about it in centuries because it was never possible. I'm in shock, I really don't want to believe it because if it's not true, then I'll be really disappointed and I don't want you to think that I wouldn't still be happy with you having a child with a donor. I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"The only thing that we can do is get a pregnancy test, I guess."

I would send for Stella Ludwig. It would be far more definitive. Plus, we needed to know if Sookie was turned and how would that effect a baby?

"Would you rather I not keep it?"

"What? No, I mean no—that's not—Sookie." I grew impatient with her. She was misreading my thoughtfulness as hesitation. I'd spent centuries putting this out of my mind and here I was faced with the possibility of caring for a tiny human.

"I only meant that you don't seem happy. You seem angry and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that."

"I'm not angry. I'm anything but angry. I just need a few minutes to process. I'll be back."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to go for a ride. I'll be back."

I dressed quickly and flew to my stables. Avalon sensed my mood and became skittish. I shushed him, easing his saddle onto his back. Once I was out of the ring, we tore out into the fields until he was foaming, and I was sure that I hadn't gone insane.

I handed Avalon back to Brady who was used to my odd requests to ride at all hours of the night. I hung my riding boots on the rack and went back to the house.

Jason was lifting Sookie into the air, I pulled them back to the steps.

""Stay here, Sookie. I have summoned Dr. Ludwig. If you are pregnant I don't want anyone to know about it for a while until we decide what to do."

"What do you mean 'Decide what to do? If I'm pregnant, I'm having a baby, that's what we're doing."

"Do not become angry Sookie, I meant decide what to do about protecting you and the baby…. if there is one. The whole vampire community will be up in arms about it and--"

"So, you're worried about your position in the vampire community. Is that what this is?"

I took a deep breath to calm her down. The last thing in the world that I cared about was my position. The only thing I cared about was my family. She stormed up the stairs and I followed her.

"We need to talk. No, I need to talk and you need to listen." I'd had it with her interrupting. "Are you going to sit there and let me talk?"

"Not if you're going to talk at me like I'm one of your employees."

I just need to know that I can get a thought out without you telling me what I mean. I'm on new ground here, and I need a minute to process. You've been dreaming about this since you were a little girl, and I've been avoiding the subject for about nine hundred fifty years. So just sit there and let me say what I'm trying to say, or so help me, I'm going to--"

"You're going to what?"

And Thalia thought I was petulant.

"You're impossible, woman. Fine, say what you like. I do not care. I will talk, and if you hear me, lovely. If you do not, then you only have yourself to blame. I am not at all concerned with what anyone in the world thinks. I am concerned that if the world finds out that another vampire has procreated, then other vampires may want to. That means that my mother will be scrutinized. We have been hiding her for centuries because every time some creature finds out what she is, she gets taken advantage of. Meshra has a big heart. She's not like other vampires. If she is lucky, she will only be trapped in a lab for study. If she is unlucky, she will be caught and drained. I cannot risk my mother's life, or the baby's so we need to proceed cautiously."

"But Meshra said there are five or six other vampires like Marius who were born that way because their parents are angels or fairies or whatever other creatures there are that I don't know about."

"And they're all in hiding because of what happened to their parents. Why do you think she didn't tell Fallon and me that Marius was her son? It's very dangerous for born vampires. Not to mention that fairies aren't exactly out. Are you ready to have the world know that you are part fairy? Are you ready for the ridicule, the scorn and possibly the attempts on your life? They hate us, Sookie. They hate what you and I are to each other. I only want to think about how to proceed before we start to celebrate."

"Honey, can we do just the opposite? Can't we find out if I am pregnant, celebrate privately, then start picking out her security guards and colleges?"

"Her?" I loved the idea of a little girl despite the fact that the one that I was married to made me crazy.

"Eric, we don't have to worry about the baby's whole life in one evening. All I want is to find out if I really am pregnant, have you hold me in your arms and tell me that you love me and concentrate on keeping this baby safe while she's inside me.

"A baby….My baby….. You might be having my baby."

Ludwig came in with her bag of who knew what and handed Sookie a package. I'd been hoping that she could give me some insight into Sookie's other condition. I wanted to know if she was a vampire. Stella implied that Sookie had cheated, but I knew better. We explained the whole affair to her. She infuriated me. I wanted answers and she wanted a play by play of how I'd made love to my wife and impregnated her.

"You really expect me to believe any of this?"

"That's not why I'm paying you. We could have gotten a pregnancy test ourselves, what we need is some sort of reassurance that she's okay. She's in the process of turning, so she is either pregnant or vampire and we'd like to know which."

"That's your problem, vampire, you're too damned impatient. Frankly, I don't know what you see in him."

I snarled at her, but I didn't think that Sookie noticed. My mother came in, thank you, Thor, to inject a measure of decency to this whole conversation. I watched as the dwarf poked and prodded my wife. Sookie kept her eyes on me.

"Well, Northman. I'll expect my check by Monday." She looked at me as if I'd seen some sign that she was giving. I had missed it if she had.

"Well dwarf, is she pregnant or vampire?"

"Yes and sort of are the best answers that I can give you. Have a good evening."

My mother and she exchanged a look and I understood that to mean that Stella Ludwig didn't know what Sookie was. Meshra nodded and I knew that Sookie was a brand new thing and maybe our baby would be too.

Sookie and I rushed into the bathroom to double check the results. Her hands were shaking and I wasn't much better. I looked at the tiny pink plus and tried to hold it together. I was no longer death and destruction only. I could be daddy, or horsey, or tea party guest. I felt tears coming.

"Eric, you're killing me, here."

I knelt in front of my wife, the newly formed goddess; descendant of my mother's blood. I placed my hands on her belly and kissed my child.

"My baby." I flipped the test over so that she could see it and she gasped.

"I'm pregnant. Holy shit! I'm pregnant." She kissed me, and I took her into my arms. My goddess and I were having a baby.

Epilogue:

"Shhh!"

I opened one blue eye at the sound. Then there was giggling. I closed my eye and pulled the blanket over my head.

I felt tiny hands on the blanket and I roared, lifting the blanket up as I stood and yelled a Norse battle cry for all I was worth. My daughter darted around to my back. My son, who was smaller and not as fast, couldn't escape me. I lifted him into the air. He kicked and screamed as I tickled him.

"Where do you think you're going? Get back here."

Gunnar laughed as I rolled him over onto his back and tickled him. Marissa held onto my legs as I lifted off the ground a few inches.

"Again, daddy. Again."

"You guys want up, again?"

"Yes!"

I indulged them.

"Where is your mother?" I scooped Marissa onto my right hip and Gunnar onto my left. They grabbed my neck and held on as we floated down the staircase.

"I'm here. Hello, Northman." She handed her purse to Natalia and gave me a big kiss. I kissed her back. Sookie leaned in and kissed each of our babies blonde heads.

"Big things happening here at Ravenwood. We've successfully rid the house of three dragons and a wild horse while you were at school."

"Wow, I wasn't even gone that long."

"Are you hungry? Fallon has made dinner for you and the kids."

"Not just yet. I need to talk to you about something."

"Uh-Oh, guys, that's mommy's important voice. Go on upstairs."

Marissa and Gunnar ran up the stairs and I waited for the door to slam although Sookie had been begging them not to for the last three years.

"What's up? " We went into the library and I poured her a glass of chardonnay.

We sat down on the couch and I rubbed her feet as she talked. Someone had burned down Merlotte's bar and grill. There wasn't anyone inside, as Sam had closed the bar and moved away just after Gunnar was born three years ago, but it was meant as a message for Sam Merlotte nevertheless.

I watched her talking and she had that look in her eye. She wanted to know who had done it and she wanted to know what it meant. She was just finishing college and was about to start law school. She wanted to represent shifters, were animals, vampires and all the other supes who might need legal assistance. I thought she'd be great at it.

I listened to her arguments for why she needed to get involved in the Merlotte's fire investigation, but I wasn't really listening. I looked at the locket around her neck. Inside was a tiny vial with three drops of my blood. She hadn't taken it off since Marissa was born.

I was watching her mouth move, the way her eyes lit up, the way that she moved her hands. I watched her scrunching her nose and biting her lip. I watched her shaking her blonde ponytails and laughing with her whole heart.

And I loved her.

"You realize that you can't just go tearing off into the woods looking for someone who has a score to settle with Sam, right?"

"And I won't. It's just that, you should have seen the message that was left. It was in these big red letters, and …"

I knew that she would become involved. I knew that she would be up to her eyeballs involved and that I would have to swoop in and save her at the last minute. But she knew that I would, and it was okay.

"Baby, are you listening to me?"

"Yes." But I wasn't. I was telling her I loved her.

"So then, there was this other shifter…"


End file.
